OCC Apparel: The Ethical Apparel and Merchandise Partner for New Zealand Brands
Buying one ethical tee is easy. Buying five hundred, and proving the label holds up, is a different job. OCC Apparel has spent twenty-two years, and a careful set of brand partnerships, learning to do exactly that.
For more than twenty-two years, OCC Apparel has supplied ethically accredited wholesale apparel and branded merchandise to businesses, brands and organisations across Australia and New Zealand. For universities, technology companies, music brands, wineries, charities and growing businesses, sourcing apparel at scale is rarely about choosing a T-shirt. It means finding the right product, understanding the supply chain behind it and delivering on time and on budget.
From a Farmers Market
OCC Apparel was founded in 2004 in a small apartment on Sand Street in Tugun, on Queensland’s Gold Coast. There was no warehouse, no showroom and no large team. What the founders had was the Australian distribution rights to Beneficial Ts by Patagonia, among the first organic cotton T-shirts available to organisations looking to align their merchandise with their values.
The first sales came not through corporate accounts or online stores, but at local farmers markets, where customers met ethically produced apparel long before sustainability became a mainstream business consideration.
More than two decades on, OCC has grown into a wholesale apparel and merchandise partner operating across Australia and New Zealand, helping organisations source, decorate and manage apparel programmes. The scale has changed, but the mission has stayed consistent: helping brands do better through ethically sourced apparel, production management and long-term supplier partnerships.
Partnerships Built Over Decades
One of OCC’s strengths lies in the relationships it has built over time. The company began working with Earth Positive in 2007, developed a partnership with AS Colour in 2008 and added the European apparel brand Stanley/Stella in 2012. Today it continues its work with AS Colour while serving as the official New Zealand dealer for Stanley/Stella and Earth Positive, giving local organisations access to internationally recognised ethical apparel brands.
In an industry where sustainability claims are increasingly common, OCC argues that transparency matters. Anyone can source a blank garment; far fewer suppliers can explain the certifications, manufacturing standards and environmental credentials behind what they sell.
Wholesale Apparel, Decoration and Manufacturing
Operating from Auckland and shipping nationwide, OCC supports organisations across a wide range of industries, from technology companies and universities to breweries, wineries, charities, corporate brands and music merchandise programmes.
It supplies wholesale blank garments and provides screen printing, embroidery, relabelling, patches, branded merchandise and production management, alongside online customer portals and custom-branded stores that simplify ordering for larger organisations.
An increasingly important part of the business involves custom manufacturing and made-to-order production directly through the Earth Positive factory. These garments let organisations move beyond off-the-shelf products and create collections tailored to their brand, including custom colours, bespoke labels, specialised fits and large-scale merchandise runs, while keeping the ethical and environmental standards Earth Positive is known for.
More Than Just a T-Shirt
Founder and Managing Director Nick Barclay puts the company’s philosophy simply:
“OCC Apparel is here to help make the world’s greatest brands even better.”
Nick Barclay, Founder and Managing Director
In practice, that means recognising that apparel is rarely just apparel. For a technology company it may be an onboarding pack that strengthens culture. For a university, orientation-week merchandise that builds identity. For a winery or brewery, a retail collection sold alongside its products. For musicians and festivals, merchandise becomes an extension of the brand itself. Every project has different requirements, timelines and audiences, which is why OCC places as much emphasis on sourcing and production management as on decoration.
Where Ethical Credentials Matter
Ethical accreditation has become one of the defining issues in modern apparel manufacturing. Stanley/Stella garments are made using GOTS-certified organic cotton, and the company has been a member of the Fair Wear Foundation since 2012. Earth Positive has long been recognised as a pioneer in sustainable manufacturing, drawing on renewable energy, including wind and solar, to reduce the carbon footprint of its garments. In 2008 it became the first textile company in the world to calculate and label the carbon footprint of individual garments, with independently certified savings against conventional alternatives.
For organisations buying hundreds or thousands of garments, those certifications offer something valuable: confidence that environmental claims can be independently verified rather than accepted at face value.
Supporting Brands, Universities and Not-for-Profits
OCC now works with organisations of all sizes across Australasia, producing apparel and merchandise for universities, technology companies, charities, wineries, breweries, music artists, festivals and purpose-driven organisations. It also works extensively with charities and not-for-profits, offering dedicated support and preferential pricing through a not-for-profit programme.
By combining wholesale sourcing, local decoration, custom manufacturing and online merchandise management, OCC helps organisations maintain brand consistency while simplifying the often complex process of ordering apparel at scale.
Looking Ahead
More than twenty-two years after its beginnings at farmers markets on Queensland’s Gold Coast, OCC Apparel continues to focus on the same mission: helping organisations source better products, tell stronger stories and build brands that reflect their values. Whether the project is staff apparel for a technology company, a university merchandise store, a music tour, a winery collection or a custom-manufactured retail range, the aim stays the same, to deliver ethically sourced apparel backed by expertise, transparency and long-term partnerships.
