CACTUS FEATURE ON SEVEN SHARP

If you split your pants and you'd been wearing them for a decade or more, would you consider sending them back to the manufacturer to fix?

You can if they were made in New Zealand by an outdoor clothing company, which wants to keep its well-worn and well-loved gear in circulation.

From Kevlar knee pads with holes and backpacks which have seen better days, clothing manufacturer Cactus Outdoor in Christchurch makes products worn for even 30 years look good as new.

Keen Taupō outdoorsman Cam Branch has worn his Cactus canvas pants through 10 years of wear and tear.

"They were pretty terrible, to be honest. I probably sent them back as a bit of a laugh," he told Seven Sharp.

"I would have just traded them in but they love them and if they can be fixed, they can get another five years out of them," Cactus Outdoor's Kerry Cobb said as she got to work mending the remains.

Branch received his trusty old trousers, along with the new pair he ordered.

The apparel factory is now the largest in the country, and one of the few remaining.

"Our customers are tradespeople and farmers and emergency service workers, and those people want tools that are really dependable," Cactus Outdoor founder Ben Kepes said.

He said while they make their own products, they also "contract manufacture for people like police, fire service, army, navy".

"Our staff are super proud. On ANZAC Day, literally every single service person on the parade ground is wearing uniforms that have come through here."

via: 1 NEWS / Seven Sharp