A Brief History of Canterbury of NZ

In 1904, deep in the Canterbury province of New Zealand, John Lane, Pringle Walker and Alfred Rudkin started making woollen garments. Before long, they were making uniforms for the army during World War I, and such was their reputation for tough, durable kit (uniforms), the legendary New Zealand All Blacks rugby team asked them to produce a rugby kit to play in. The rest, as they say, is history: Canterbury of New Zealand outfitted the New Zealand All Blacks team for over 75 years and is now the largest dedicated rugby brand in the world, partnering the South African, Australian, Irish and Scottish national teams and a host of leading club sides including English Champions London Wasps.In fact, by the early 1970s Canterbury were sup plying kit to so many teams around the world that it’s factories were left with a problem: what to do with the remnants of fabric that were used to make the many different jerseys of these teams? The solution: stitch them together and market them as practice jerseys. With no two jerseys the same, these practice jerseys became hugely popular with players and fans alike and before long became known as the Ugly jersey. Recently imitated by many, the original Ugly jersey has proved the inspiration for the launch of Canterbury’s Off-Field brand: a premium end menswear fashion brand inspired by New Zealand, rugby and of course the Ugly.