How Your Knit Gives Back
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How Your Knit Gives Back
Every NZ Charly jumper sold plants a native tree in Aotearoa. Here is what that actually means on the ground in Gisborne.
A real commitment, real plants, real impact
The one-jumper-one-tree promise is not a carbon offset. It is not a donation to a faceless programme. It is a native plant, chosen specifically for the Gisborne region, grown and put into the ground.
The plantings cover trees, shrubs, grasses, and flowering species, all native to Aotearoa. Manuka and kanuka go in first as pioneers, stabilising soil and creating shelter for slower-growing species. Kowhai, pohutukawa, cabbage trees, hebe, horopito, whauwhaupaku, carex grass, and a wide range of flaxes follow. Over time, these plantings build a layered, functioning ecosystem rather than a monoculture. And like our fibre blends, New Zealand's native flora work best together.
Some of the older sections have been growing for over ten years now. New sections, what we call the nursery areas, are being added constantly along riverbanks and hillsides. Occasionally local nurseries donate overstocked plants, which go straight into new sections. Nothing is wasted.
The same riverbed that is now thriving with flax, grasses, and native shrubs, drawing back birds and insects we had not seen in years, was flooded four times in a single year. We put on our gumboots, took out the shovels, and replanted. Every time. That is the point.
Gisborne has been hit hard in recent years. Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 caused significant flooding along the riverbeds where many of these plantings sit. But this was not our first flood, and will likely not be our last. Each time, a number of plants were lost. Some dragged away entirely, some buried under 400mm of silt. So we pulled on our gumboots, took out the shovels, and got to work. Some were replanted, some dug out. The same sections have been replanted multiple times without hesitation, because the work matters more than the setback.
What makes this particularly tangible is what has happened over the past three years. Native bird populations have increased noticeably in the areas surrounding the plantings. Insects that depend on native flora are returning. These are not statistics from a report. They are things the people working in these areas are observing directly, season to season.
NZ Charly was founded in Gisborne, and that region will always be part of what the brand is. Putting plants back into the land there is not a marketing exercise. It is a small act of responsibility toward the place the brand came from.
Each piece of NZ Charly knitwear is made from natural fibres that come from the land. It makes sense that something goes back.
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