Hat business a growing concern
What started out as a hobby for a few extra dollars and some part time work for Heather Montgomery three years ago has grow n into a business and full time job. While working for the Lands and Survey Department in Ohakune in 1984 Heather bought a knitting machine and started making ski hats in her spare time. She bought the machine from a shop in Taupo and was given some wool, then taught herself to use it. "1 had to go and see a friend's knitting machine before the salesman came so I would know what they looked like," said Heather. The first two years Heather made hats for friends, for private orders and for Junction Ski Shop who retailed them. 'Hats Unlimited'hassince made ski hats for various groups including Turoa Ski Patrol, Mt Hutt Skifields and Whakapapa Skifields. An order that really got things moving for Heather and her hats was one to supply Air New Zealand with 50 souvenir hats to go with their sponsorship of the FIS ski racing series last year. This was a good way to get the business known in the skiing industry in New Zealand said Heather. An American clothing company, gave Heather a subcontract to make 500 hats for their New Zealand distributors last year and she has another contract from
them this year. Heather says she got this contract because she could match the colours they wanted for their hats. 'Hats Unlimited' now has a new electronic knitting machine which has widened the scope of designs that Heather can incorporate into her hats. She can adapt
designs from almost any needlework patterns and can design hats with almost any logo or wordi.ng, including skifield names and club names. For many private orders Heather has put the name of the client on the inside of the hat, and for Turoa's snow hostesses, she put their
phone numbers! Hats Unlimited is now supplying ski retail shops and skifields throughout New Zealand and is starting to sell overseas. Heather is supplying hats to a Japanese outlet through her friend Tosh Inukai who was a ski instructor for Turoa in 1984-85.
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Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 35, 17 February 1987, Page 7
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362Hat business a growing concern Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 35, 17 February 1987, Page 7
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