Hosed-off hosiery firms to sell cheap red socks

By TONY WALL

A consortium of local sock manufacturers plans to undercut the price of Team New Zealand's official America's Cup red socks, which are being made in South Korea.

Bruce Parrant, the managing director of Levin firm Neat Fit, said it, Comfort Socks of Levin and Performance Hosiery of Auckland would produce 120,000 plain red socks by February 1, a fortnight before the start of the America's Cup defender series.

The socks would sell for $7.95, $2 of which would go to Team New Zealand.

Mr Parrant said he was disappointed in the decision to have the official socks made overseas.

"What we want to do now is give the New Zealand public a chance to buy a New Zealand-made sock and support the cup campaign the way [it] did in 1995."

Greens Party co-leader Rod Donald last week urged people to boycott the official Sir Peter Blake Lucky Red Socks because they were made overseas.

The Korean socks, featuring the Team New Zealand logo, hit the market this week, selling for $9.99. The aim is to raise $600,000 to build a new mast.

Team New Zealand is infuriated by the suggestion that it is not supporting local companies.

It says it investigated having the socks made here, but they would have been too expensive and could not have been ready in time.

Mr Parrant said the local companies' socks and packaging had been checked by patent attorneys, and did not breach copyright.

He believed Team New Zealand would "turn the New Zealand public off" if it tried to stop his campaign.

Team New Zealand yesterday distanced itself from Mr Parrant's campaign, but said it could not stop anyone producing plain red socks.

A spokesman, Alan Sefton, said the fact that Mr Parrant's group could not supply its socks until February 1 reinforced the decision to go overseas.

"We wanted the socks made in New Zealand but the volumes, timeframes and costs prohibited that.

"It was a tough call, because no one has championed or continues to champion New Zealand harder than Team New Zealand does, but it was the only call we could make."

He would not comment on whether the team would accept money raised by Mr Parrant's group.

"To be honest, we don't want anything to do with this guy under these circumstances."

After Mr Donald's criticism last week, syndicate boss Sir Peter said Team New Zealand championed the cause of New Zealand. He pointed to the increase in tourism and jobs generated by the America's Cup.