Bremworth has moved some of its carpet production overseas as it repairs its flood damaged Napier factory. Chief executive Greg Smith says Cyclone Gabrielle has exposed the risk of producing much of its yarn and all of its dyed fiber from a single factory. Trials are being run in the UK, India and Denmark, to test if those manufacturers could meet Bremworth’s quality standards. Bremworth will export New Zealand wool fibre which will be made into yarn at one of the plants, and then sent back to New Zealand and tufted into carpet at the Papatoetoe plan.
Greg Smith says the Napier plant was identified as a tsunami risk in 2021, and planning had been underway to spread the risk. An initial $20 million insurance payout allowed the company to put some of its outsourcing plans in place. The company has $16million worth of finished carpet inventory on hand to service the market while new suppliers are found with all the Napier plant staff back at work cleaning the factory.