Our Story

Events Clothing Company, Since 1991

Events Clothing Company began life in 1991. In those early days the company built a reputation for its ability to supply innovative, quality garments to both the corporate and marine sectors.

At the turn of the millennium, having secured a number of International Superyacht clients, Events took on a new look and focus specialising in design, manufacture and supply of Crew uniforms to Superyachts and Motor Yachts throughout the world.
 
Offering both a stock (off the shelf) and custom (made to order) range of apparel, Events currently service and supply boats looking to outfit their crews in distinctive quality uniforms.

All Events products are designed, developed and tested to ensure they not only provide the best quality garments but also a uniform that is technically superior to alternatives.
 
Storyboards are a unique development for Events Clothing. They enable Captains and Pursers to visualise their uniform designs, make any adjustments or changes and then present them to Owners and Managers with confidence.
 
After 20 years of business the company can boast an involvement with some of the world's most prestigious yachting events, race campaigns, luxurious superyachts and internationally recognised companies, providing quality and stylish uniforms that enhance even the best looking crews.
 
Events Clothing appreciates the individual demands of each boat and is able to personalise clothing for the perfect result.

Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Events Clothing are ready to talk to you about your next project.

STAFF PROFILES

Owen Rutter

Managing Director

Owen has a long history with the marine industry and yacht racing. Having raced around the world on the Whitbread in 1981 and 1982 he then went on to build an 85ft cruise boat in the south of France on which he skippered for 10 months.

On his return to New Zealand Owen continued competing in many events. He was involved in the NZ Amels Cup Team in 1985,1987,1989 and 1991 and the Two Tonne Worlds in 1993, to name a few.

After working in marine apparel for five years Owen decided to venture out on his own.  In 1991 Events started as a one man band, with Owen managing all areas supported with a partnership with Line 7. He had seen a gap in the market to sell clothing direct to the superyacht industry and the company has been steadily growing ever since.

Event’s now has 15 employees and Owen hopes to see the company become the number one uniform supplier in the marine market. He loves working with people and has employed a great team in order to achieve this dream.

Outside the office Owen is still involved with many other marine ventures and is currently the chairman of NZ Marine Export Group having been on the board for five years.

SALES

Michelle Crooks

Sales Manager

With the company’s long standing reputation as a supplier of unique, top quality crew clothing, Michelle is proud to head the sales team.

She has worked in fashion and sales for most of her career and has been at Events Clothing for 18 years.

She manages a team of five to ensure that customers are given a high standard of service and receive their purchases in an efficient and timely manner. She enjoys working with people from all over the world and helping to find uniforms that meet their goals and needs.

Michelle takes great delight in seeing people wearing Events Clothing’s products on superyachts and at boat shows around the world, knowing that her team had a part in fulfilling those specific requirements.

She also enjoys working closely with the design team developing new products in order to be one step ahead of competitors.

In her time at Event’s Michelle has developed trusted relationships with many of her clients and is a well respected member of the team. She looks forward to being a key figure in Events Clothing’s ongoing growth, both in New Zealand and Internationally.

Duthie Lidgard

International Sales – Specialising in Superyachts & Race Boats

Duthie has been sailing all his life, competing in many ocean races from the age of 10. After becoming a fully qualified boat builder, he then spent over 10 years working in the superyacht industry as a Deckie / Engineer, leading him into being a Class 4 Captain.

With over 200,000 ocean miles to his credit, his experience includes being the owner’s representative for the building of SY Whirlaway and the race maxi Genuine Risk, and working on yachts such as Pacific Wave, Timoneer (old and new), Valsheda, Hanseat V, and Imagine. Following this he decided to move back home to New Zealand with his young family and search for a job that kept him in the marine industry.

With his International Sales Role, Duthie enjoys the opportunity to work with the many captains, crew, boat yard personnel and friends he’s met in the marine business over the years.  Since he used Events uniforms on all the boats he worked on or captained he is very familiar with the product and is excited to work for the growing company.

Duthie likes to make sure that the personnel responsible for all new superyacht builds have the opportunity to show their owners what Events Clothing can do with their superior uniform and crew clothing lines.

He says at the heart of his job is the desire to ensure superyachts are provided with the highest quality service and the fastest possible response time for all orders. World domination is the aim!

Jacs Campbell

Superyacht Sales

Jacs is another ex-yachtie providing uniforms to the superyacht industry.

After spending many years in hospitality working in everything from 5 Star hotels to wine bars, Jacs found her way to yachting. She spent 8 years being everything from stewardess, cook, to deckhand - and captain too if you speak to certain crew!

She managed to cover the Med, Caribbean and the Pacific, all on sail boats, the last being a beautiful Swan 82’. The opportunity to spend a month in the Galapagos Islands – “a truly incredible place, abundant in the most amazing wildlife everywhere you look” – was one of the many highlights of her yachting years.

Jacs confesses there is never a dull moment in her role with the constant pace and demands. She enjoys being able to be a part of a team helping clients develop new innovative branding and custom made clothing designed for their individual needs.

She believes uniforms have changed so much in the last few years and people are wanting something more than the norm - “we can provide that something different and I enjoy helping in that creative process”.

She loves everything on top of the water and pretty much nothing that requires going under it!

Now she is a Brit living in “Kiwi-land” she feels the need to develop an interest in rugby and camper vans!

Gemma Miles

Sales

Gemma is part of our sales team looking after both our corporate and yachting related clients.

Having just moved to New Zealand from previously working on boats, she specialises in the yachting sector.

As for Gemma’s history, she grew up amongst a family who worked in the sales environment and now she has also picked up a passion for it. She has also worked in and around boats since she was nineteen.

During this time Gemma frequently brought uniforms from Events Clothing and her progression toward working for the company was influenced by her belief in the product. She not only enjoys selling the products but loves the fact that she is encouraged to keep in contact with all her friends who are still employed on the yachts.

Just a few of the boats Gemma has worked on in her time are Aschanti IV, Shamoun, and Margaret Ann. She also did a lot of freelancing on such boats as Leander, Bystander, Mariette, and Windrose.

This experience has allowed Gemma to understand the need to maintain the highest level of service and commitment to her clients by providing them with uniforms to the exact specifications requested.

Out of the office Gemma enjoys most water sports, skiing, cooking, and reading. She is a fun member of the office and has the typical laid back, happy attitude of a yachtie.

Emma Hendy

Corporate Sales

Emma, who joined Events in September 2011, has grown up on boats and continues to sail competitively in national and international yachting regattas. It has always been a dream of hers to combine her passion for yachting with her love of clothing into a job and Events Clothing has enabled her to do this.  
 
She has spent the last five years working within the New Zealand and international marine apparel industry, which has allowed her to build up an extensive knowledge base on what is required from clothing on and off the water.    
 
Emma enjoys working on every project whether big or small and will always ensure the highest result is achieved for the customer - she believes that seeing the customer’s satisfaction when the end result is produced is one of the major highlights of the role.

Louis German

Sales Support

In the sales support role, Louis’ key responsibility is making sure that Events Clothing continues to deliver the high standard of customer service for which the company is known.

He has a varied role, covering almost all aspects of the company from sales, production, stock, accounts and dispatch. This variety appeals to Louis as he gets to work with many different clients and virtually everyone in the company.

Louis believes the companies talented team already has an outstanding reputation for being able to think outside the box and provide fantastic custom uniforms.

He loves playing his part in helping Events Clothing becoming the No. 1 superyacht apparel company in the world.

DESIGN

Helen Allen

Designer

Helen is Events Clothing's Designer.

She is passionate about designing and loves the opportunity to design for hundreds of identities rather than just one brand.  Each customer's needs are different which enables her to research all angles of design.  Each day is a whole new set of rules!

She has had throughout her life, in her words, “a career based on left turns, awesome places and people”.

Starting with a fashion degree in the UK, she moved on to work with some big name brands such as Pepe Jeans, Wilson, Umbro, Jigsaw, and Fruit Of The Loom.

In between the design jobs she has worked in South Africa to train as a Safari Guide, spent two amazing years in Botswana, and 3 years teaching art to teenagers of 57 nationalities at an International School in Vanuatu.

After all that she has said there is no more moving for a while as Events is all the weird and wonderful she needs.

As for Helen's New Zealand and nautical experience, she has worked on projects such as Team New Zealand, designing both marine and casual men’s wear for the Line 7 brand before working for Events Clothing.

Joseph Sharplin

Graphic Designer

Joe specialises in putting together the design boards for clients and creating new logos and graphics for use on tees and garments.

Joe also manages the content on the website so it stays up to date with the latest trends and styles available.

His background includes obtaining a Bachelor of Design from AUT, working in the hospitality industry, freelancing as a website designer, and working for a signage company.

The job at Events provides him with ongoing challenges creating new design briefs and graphics.

He loves working in a team environment in which many of its members are knowledgeable in the yachting area.

PRODUCTION

Verona Cooper

Production Manager

Verona is Events' Production Manager, Branding Coordinator, and Project Manager.

She is highly skilled in these areas having worked for Events Clothing for 12 years.

She has covered various roles in this time starting out in branding for local production and gradually moving her way through to offshore manufacturing.

She loves the atmosphere of Events clothing and the people, some whom she has known a long time.

Her speciality is problem solving and brand applications.

Teresa Oldnall

Offshore Production

Teresa looks after import production and planning.

She started at the young age of 16 as a presser and has worked her way up through to warehouse, cutter, digitiser and marker maker and finally into the offshore production role which she has been doing for 10 years.

She enjoys the challenge that each day brings ensuring that orders are on time and solving any issues or problems that occur.

She gets great satisfaction seeing the process of a sample being turned into finished bulk garments.

Kimberly Trigg

Local Production Coordinator

Kim is the Local Production Coordinator for Events, organising stock and special makes with local factories and suppliers.

Kim has a history with clothing having gained a Bachelor of Design in Fashion at AUT and from previous work experience dealing with overseas suppliers.

In her spare time Kim enjoys sewing, proving her real passion for the industry.

Events provides her with a hands on approach to work which is a part of the job she loves along with the friendly people, challenging aspects, and new things she is learning every day.

WAREHOUSE

David MacDonald

Warehouse Manager

David manages the warehouse at Events Clothing.

He prides himself in ensuring the systems are running smoothly and is constantly finding areas in which he can improve on.

In particular David focuses on the freight forwarding department seeing that clothes are picked and packed as efficiently as possible to ensure customers' orders are shipped on time.

David has been in the warehouse industry for over 10 years and says working for Events has allowed him to put all the things he has learnt over the years into practise.

“The company has given me the opportunity to grow and, with the support of others, to make the warehouse a success.”

Jamel Lolohea

Warehouse

Jamel is the warehouse junior dealing with inwards and outwards goods on a day to day basis.

He enjoys the challenges that arise from this job and also the diversity of the role.

The warehouse can be a stressful place to be at times with all the large orders going out but Jamel always has a smile on his face and can see the fun in everything. 

ACCOUNTS & ADMINISTRATION

Fiona Methven

Accounts Manager

Fiona is in charge of the accounts and administration department.

She has worked for Events for three years and her role has changed from looking after all accounting aspects to now focusing on financial reports.

Her other main duties include budgets, monitoring stock, and dealing with overseas suppliers.

She says Events is a great team to work with and her job provides her with many challenges.

Outside of work Fiona enjoys supporting her children in their sporting endeavours, reading, and travel.

Rebecca Burke

Accounts and Marketing

Rebecca has a varied role in Events.

She deals with the accounting for local suppliers and also runs the marketing side along with various other administration tasks.

Rebecca completed a degree in Marketing and Design from The University of Otago before heading off to work on superyachts for three years. This experience lead her to working for Events clothing having purchased the uniforms while being on board some of the yachts.

She is happy to have found a job that not only allows her to work in a fun team environment but also means she can continue working in an industry she has grown to love.

Alicia Hilliard

Receptionist

Alicia is the receptionist at Events Clothing and one of the youngest members in the office.

She is the friendly one answering phone calls, meeting and greeting guests, and doing other general administration tasks.

She has previously worked in Australia as a pharmacy assistant but is happy to be back in New Zealand in the friendly, helpful environment that Events provides.

She loves meeting new people, has a great interest in music and cooking, and said she would love to see the world someday.