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Our Story
Roskill is a small New Zealand clothing company making durable, everyday clothes in small batches.
It began with an idea to make a single, properly made pair of jeans.
What followed wasn’t a grand plan. It was people paying attention, asking questions, offering feedback and support, and wanting to be part of it.
With us fumbling along, trying to create a brand around this one idea.
A lockdown idea that kept going
Like a lot of things, Roskill started during lockdown.
With time to think, it became clear how much had quietly disappeared. Local manufacturing. Skilled makers. Clothes built to last.
The first jeans were made as a test. A single batch. When people asked for another run, we did one more. Then another.
Each step forward came from customers saying, “What if you tried this?” or “I’d love to see that next.”
The role of Roskill became clear.
Set things up so customers could support New Zealand manufacturing, simply by buying clothes they actually wanted to wear.
Small batches, deliberately
We don’t work to seasons or big drops.
We make in small runs, often limited by a single roll of fabric or the capacity of a local workshop. When a batch is gone, it’s gone.
This keeps waste low, quality high, and decisions grounded in reality.
It also means every batch is a chance to improve, based directly on what people tell us.
You shape the product
Fit, fabric choice, pocket layout, rises, widths, proportions. None of it is accidental.
Every change comes from customer feedback.
As is each new product we choose to pursue.
Some adjustments are small. Some are significant. All of them exist because people took the time to share what worked and what didn’t.
Roskill doesn’t design in isolation. The customers are the constant.
Made in New Zealand
Roskill is made in New Zealand, and always will be.
The skills already exist here. They just need support.
We work with a range of New Zealand manufacturers, each chosen for what they do well. Cutting, sewing, finishing. Different regions. Different specialities.
The goal isn’t to centralise everything under one roof. It’s to support the people already doing the work, and to help keep those businesses viable.
Taking production offshore would miss the point entirely.
A growing community
Along the way, Roskill has become about more than clothes.
It’s about small businesses supporting each other. Skill sharing. Trading work. Becoming each other’s customers.
A quiet network built through doing, not marketing.
That sense of community is as important as the garments themselves.
A work in progress
Roskill isn’t a full-time job. Not yet.
It’s something built carefully, around other work, family life, and the realities of small-scale making.
Growing slowly is intentional. It keeps the quality high and the pressure low.
What you’re really buying
When you buy Roskill, you’re supporting:
• New Zealand manufacturing and skilled local makers
• small production runs, not mass manufacturing
• clothes designed through real-world use and feedback
• a growing network of independent businesses backing each other
If you want to follow the process, hear about new batches, and see things evolve in real time, join the newsletter.
