Bushwalk Australia

Macpac, which was founded in 1973 in Bruce McIntyre, is being sold to Australian fund manager Super Retail Group for $144 million.

The takeover of Macpac, which has 54 stores in New Zealand and Australia, will be completed on March 31.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/indust ... buy-macpac

share price plummets

http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/s ... 4z0xf.html

Another one bites the dust !

is that was SRG do to companies?

If they bought macpac they would continue to seek differentiation from Ray's, BCF and Rebel sport, I imagine - so i wouldn't bet that they would downgrade their product line - ray's would have some crossover though; last time I went into ray's they had the trailrunner thing going on

I could be wrong but I don't know about if they will continue innovation in, say, the clothing and tent space, though.

A shame, because weight aside, I think that their tents have always been good and their clothing has always been quite reasonable.

That is an interesting bit of news. Macpac being a more high-end brand, I don't see them needing to change it to keep it differentiated from Ray's. I wonder if it will just remain business as usual, or will they use their weight to push harder onto katmandu, and MD, maybe try to claw back some market share that S2S has dominated.

There is a market for high end travel gear that they could exploit. Not everyone wants to look like they’re on safari when they are overseas.

Noice.
Is this a kiwi thing, Wayno?

It's not quite in the same class as the rest of SRG's portfolio, is it? Will they be able to guide Macpac properly as a more premium quality brand? Not convinced based on SRG's existing portfolio. Can only congratulate Macpac's founders on a nice retirement exit.

"Macpac (...) has 54 stores across Australia and New Zealand, while Rays has 15. The two will be merged and operated under the Macpac brand."

The plot thickens! Given that the current "house" brand at rays has changed again it looks like, it seems they have been struggling to get good gear out the door. Rolling over the brands that quickly is not a good sign. So are they going to do Rays gear with Macpac lables and kill the brand for good? Or will they actually shoot for the high end? I'm not hopeful.

Anyone who cycles, how does GoldCross rate as far as a cycle store? Are they any good, or are they supercheap/BCF grade?

They'll never top this gear

Cr*p!! They are one of the few decent brands who make a few items in larger sizes. My partner absolutely lives in his Macpac hoodie & down jacket.

Perhaps the retail prices will be more realistic? I suspect limited change to the product.

Err, Spotlight & Anaconda have the same parents. Both successful Kiwi businesses, let's see. I'm thinking improvement!

Anaconda and Spotlight are Australian businesses which are still owned (as far as I know) by the same retailing family that founded them. That's a bit different to the current situation with Macpac being brought into a group of several brands run by a funds manager. What transpires will depend on the strategy the new Macpac owners have - will they use different brands to target different market segments or use the larger operational footprint with a merged brand... Time will tell.

The gist was that they are sending family campers, fishing, 4wd etc to BCF and using rays/macpac for hiking/adventure. I wonder what they will fill the big box stores with considering the smaller focus?

Gadgetgeek wrote:That is an interesting bit of news. Macpac being a more high-end brand

Personally I think Macpac lost this market position when they last changed ownership a couple of years ago (when Blacksheep left the business). Under the most recent part-ownership by Jan Cameron Macpac has since become a close replication of the Kathmandu model with regular sales, a significant focus on a huge range of small travel-type accessories and similar product quality. If anything in this latest change, Macpac will benefit by leveraging off Ray’s current high-end offering, not the other way around.


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What worries me about the change is the possibility that they will go to Asian sizing like Rays and I will no longer have access to real XXL and XXXL stuff in warm gear.
The selling price of the business seems to reflect the poor profitability of the current Macpac business model, $144M is chicken feed really in todays business world.
I hope that they keep a proper Australian, EnZed sizing because nothing in the current line-up at Rays fits my broad shoulders. actually the same goes for a lot of gear available here and I hope that they get some new designers who are walkers climbers and skiers rather than metrosexual fashion plates because the functionality of the important gear has gone down over time, no valances on Alpine tents etc

recently i thought the macpac gear and clothing had improved in its technical range, they had a new CEO take over and he stated he wanted to make more technical gear. they have the NZ alpine team who test their prototype climbing gear in major alpine conditions... they dumped their disastrous eVent rainshell range completely and replaced it with Pertex material. and completely new designs. they've increased the range of materials they are using to include the latest high tech materials and developed more lightweight gear.

wayno wrote:recently i thought the macpac gear and clothing had improved in its technical range, they had a new CEO take over and he stated he wanted to make more technical gear. they have the NZ alpine team who test their prototype climbing gear in major alpine conditions... they dumped their disastrous eVent rainshell range completely and replaced it with Pertex material. and completely new designs. they've increased the range of materials they are using to include the latest high tech materials and developed more lightweight gear.

Their Alpine series is pretty good apart from the prices. The Pertex gear is solid and design wise pretty interesting. I bought the prothermal hoody for 60% off and think it is fantastic.

Except Wayno that it stopped at XL in sizing. I am not a big bloke in real terms but I have very wide shoulders, a Macpac XL is for a chest 44 inches or 112cm, I have a 117cm chest and I want room to layer, the last lot of XL I tried on were cut so tight I could not wear anything under them except a T-shirt, not what I expected from a technical design point of view.
I really wanted to buy that UL down pullover from 2 seasons ago, I couldn't get the XL over my head [ not mislabelled as I tried two ] and this is what I mean by having technically minded designers, TG for Patagucci and USA army surplus

Moondog55 wrote:Except Wayno that it stopped at XL in sizing. I am not a big bloke in real terms but I have very wide shoulders, a Macpac XL is for a chest 44 inches or 112cm, I have a 117cm chest and I want room to layer, the last lot of XL I tried on were cut so tight I could not wear anything under them except a T-shirt, not what I expected from a technical design point of view.
I really wanted to buy that UL down pullover from 2 seasons ago, I couldn't get the XL over my head [ not mislabelled as I tried two ] and this is what I mean by having technically minded designers, TG for Patagucci and USA army surplus

You need to lay off the bench-presses mate

The Alpine series stuff is cut for mountaineers. The Tops are longer so you can get a harness over them and the rainwear can accommodate helmets. Some of the tops have thumbholes so they are warmer when wearing gloves. They had more stuff listed a few months ago from memory - https://www.macpac.com.au/nz-alpine-team

Maybe they realised your average mountaineer/alpinist doesn't have a 117cm chest and there was no profit in it?

I do agree the sizing is iffy.

This from the country that bred Ed Hillary? A bloke renowned for the size of his shoulders [not to mention his height] I used to climb so consider myself a mountaineer in orientation. Not catering for the extremes of the sizing range is cost cutting when contracting to Chinese factories and using Asian templates not Australian/EnZed/USA templates and patterns and perhaps Unisex sizes too.
Unisex clothing fits nobody really well unfortunately.
I meet a lot of people out on the hills much bigger than I am and they complain as much if not more so than I do. The stuff from 20 years ago was much better thought out and sized correctly but then so was a lot of stuff from every other brand out there and why so many of us now DIY or do as I do and buy surplus and wear camouflage or Olive drab/Urban grey

hard nosed business trying to make a buck in a very competitive market in the modern world

wayno wrote:hard nosed business trying to make a buck in a very competitive market in the modern world

Yep, Mont have gone to unisex sizing so an XXL is now only 112cm chest, and I really don't need a Himalayan jacket to get an XXXL that is to short in the body for anything except climbing Everest or K2.
I know it isn't just Macpac, it is now very difficult to get tall sizes too, ditto salopettes or decent Bib&Brace for skiing

Moondog55 wrote:This from the country that bred Ed Hillary? A bloke renowned for the size of his shoulders [not to mention his height] I used to climb so consider myself a mountaineer in orientation. Not catering for the extremes of the sizing range is cost cutting when contracting to Chinese factories and using Asian templates not Australian/EnZed/USA templates and patterns and perhaps Unisex sizes too.
Unisex clothing fits nobody really well unfortunately.
I meet a lot of people out on the hills much bigger than I am and they complain as much if not more so than I do. The stuff from 20 years ago was much better thought out and sized correctly but then so was a lot of stuff from every other brand out there and why so many of us now DIY or do as I do and buy surplus and wear camouflage or Olive drab/Urban grey

Ed Hillary’s height and chest size wouldn’t be renowned if they were of AVERAGE proportions right? Can’t expect a company to make things that aren’t going to make them money. We have a huge Asian population In Australia they want outdoor gear as well. I’m glad this isn’t America where we need xxxxxl clothing.

I’m 6’3” with a 40 inch chest and athletic build and have no issues with outdoor gear fitting. And my Mont salopettes fit me fine

I’m not arguing with you. I just think you need to be realalistic in what any company SHOULD be offering.

But he could find good clothing to fit him and the makers of traditional NZ gear still make these sizes and they are affordable and/or reasonably priced and made in EnZed, maybe it's because Maoris are naturally so big? The bloke across the road isn't fat and makes me look like a midget.

Perhaps.
It does seem tho that those companies that cater for the larger/taller sizes do not seem to me to be losing money, it does however seem to be about maximising profit by chasing the cheapest gear sourced from the cheapest contactor
I wish I could afford Dead Bird gear but Canadians workers do not seem to be paid any less that Kiwis and small factories can have much shorter lead times and much smaller production runs. All I am saying is that going for the lowest cost product and smaller size ranges may in the long term lead to the total demise of the brand and the business and we are all worse off in the end perhaps.
Most Americans don't wear anything larger than Medium/ Large to XL, it's simply that those who do have such a huge presence visually and there are a lot of them simply because there are a Lot of Americans
Companies SHOULD be offering their customers clothing that is suitable for the conditions and that is comfortable and that fits and is fit for purpose, very few seem to be doing all of that

no the NZ made products arent affordable, they are expensive, there are few of them left and they are struggling.... a few people wanting to stand by their brand isnt necessarily going to keep them afloat when the masses have long moved to far larger companies who can make gear far more cheaply that fit most people... Macpac reluctantly made the choice to move manufacturing offshore for financial reasons, its easy to criticise but you're not having to manage the finances of that company... when you've got operators like kathmandu who have long since gone to china and been stesadily improving their products and expanding their operation over the decades and the competition is going under left right and centre , you have to make long term strategic decisions that may affect the survival of your company years down the line... and you havent got the livlihoods of numerous staff riding on your decisions

Agreed Wayno.

But on the flip side of all this is that small cottage companies like MLD, Nunatak, Locus Gear, Tier gear etc are thriving right now.

People do like custom made gear, me included so maybe there is a market for what Moondog is talking about. Interesting times for gear.