How Canterbury is mixing art and meaning in its latest campaign

Canterbury of New Zealand is famous for iconic activewear – tried and tested clothing, as durable on the city streets as it is on the footy field or the outback. Toughness and resilience have always been at the heart of our products. To respect those who wear our clothes, we put quality, design and versatility before anything else. 

But the CCC logo stands for more than just physical toughness. To us, building mental resilience to safeguard the mental health of our community has always been as important. Toughness is not about being hard or ruthless, but about showing up in the moments that matter and standing for something. It’s more than how you look or what you wear. It’s strength of character. 

To bring this mentality to light, we recently partnered with long-term friend of Canterbury of New Zealand and renowned visual artist, Tom Gould. Together we created a campaign that provides a glimpse into the lives of real people living in one of the most resilient communities on New Zealand’s East Coast, Tokomaru Bay.

Through sharing their unique stories with our wider community, we aim to connect those who understand and resonate with their courage and strength of spirit. Being a small and remote community, separated through lockdowns and impacted by multiple natural disasters, the people of this region pulled together to get through the worst of it, coming together to build back after losing so much. It’s this mentality of resilience and strength, a mentality that’s relevant wherever you’re from.

To us, it’s now more important than ever to bring these stories to the fore and generate conversation around what it means to be a part of a community that supports you, no matter what challenges you are facing. 

Keeping it real

Tom, who has previously exhibited in MoMA and worked with NBA stars and global recording artists, also captured a suite of striking portraits and films that portray this resilience, highlighting the beauty in stillness and the repetitive nature of everyday life.

As a friend of the brand, Tom truly understood our rich heritage and the resilience and toughness of the people in our communities, but also had a vision to help us reach and appeal to a fresh audience. He knows that keeping it real will always be key for Canterbury of New Zealand, no matter what stage we are at on our journey. From showcasing the home of the brand, to how it’s experienced within our communities, he has helped us to tell a new story ground in authenticity by showing nothing but the truth. 

We saw Tom’s collaboration with us as more than a digital launch, exhibiting his striking work as part of our partnership with the High Street retailer, Knowear. By launching in an unexpected retail environment for the brand we extended our brand, product and stories from our community to a new audience, not only through our owned channels and on social media, but with a new wholesale partner. Our exhibition also presented the collection as more than clothing, positioning ourselves in a space that truly represents what Canterbury of New Zealand stands for. 

Adding purpose

Our ability to evolve throughout our 118-year history comes down to our people-first mentality. As a brand, we have always been driven by our people and our community, adapting to their needs and wants, while consistently providing top-quality clothing that is hardworking, and hard-wearing. But this year, we felt the need to go further to add purpose and a deeper connection with our audience. 

As part of our campaign, we’re encouraging our community to vote for their favourite image from Tom’s portraits for the chance to win it. For each vote, we are contributing a $1 contribution of up to NZ$10,000 ($8,900), to Batyr – an organisation that supports and advocates for positive mental health for the youth of Australia. We believe that resilience comes from a place of strong mental health, and we acknowledge organisations across Australia need financial strength to do their expert work in supporting our communities.

Tragically, suicide remains the leading cause of death for young people in Australia. In 2020-2021, two in five young people aged 16-24 experienced mental ill-health, with almost one third experiencing anxiety. Batyr trains young people with a lived-experience of mental ill-health to share their stories in a safe and impactful way, with a focus on hope, resilience, help-seeking and the recovery journey. They engage young people to create positive spaces that educate and normalise conversations about mental health, and that are free from stigma. Batyr’s vision is to create a world where all young people lead mentally healthy and fulfilling lives.

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