Danielle Gardner
University of Otago
Joe Cooper
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Nisa was developed as a social enterprise from its inception, to provide employment opportunities for women from refugee and migrant backgrounds. Offering this opportunity for growth, prosperity and support helps to mitigate the inequalities migrants often face when integrating into life in New Zealand. This innovation helps to progress the Sustainable Development Goals of Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG8) and No Poverty (SDG1), by offering migrant women a career path and supportive kinship within the Nisa team, which they may not have had available to them otherwise. This wrap-around support includes encouraging their employees to seek and complete tertiary education, which also helps to progress the goal of Quality Education (SDG4).
Nisa was launched in 2017 in Wellington, New Zealand, by Elisha Watson, a lawyer who was donating time to the New Zealand Red Cross Resettlement Program. Elisha saw a need to provide migrant women with decent employment opportunities, while supporting their assimilation into New Zealand life. The company was originally created as a platform for women to pursue tertiary study while earning some money part-time.
“[Nisa was] originally set up to help people move into nursing or whatever, and then they’ve got a reference for their work ethic in New Zealand, so it’s easier to get a job [in their field].”
But not all employees move into other fields of work. Some people in the Nisa team have stayed on and upskilled throughout the business, learning how the business operates successfully, and some are now part-owners in Nisa, since a close and reopening of the business in 2023.
Nisa works in partnership with the Red Cross, through their Pathways to Employment program. The Red Cross will often approach Nisa with recommendations of people they think will work well in the company, rather than Nisa needing to go through the process of advertising to fill roles.
“Rather than recruiting, people are brought to us… We have that very, very good relationship with the Red Cross Pathways to Employment.”
New employees usually join the company around six to eight months after arriving in New Zealand, as migrant families will spend two months at the Red Cross Resettlement Centre, and then often six months in an English intensive course, depending on their language level. New employees will go through a trial to make sure that not only are they a match in skill-set (sewing, customer service, etc.), but that their needs are met too; for example, the need for part-time hours to meet other familial or study commitments. Nisa prides itself on being a reciprocally beneficial place to work.
Nisa was created through Elisha identifying a failing in New Zealand’s settlement of migrant families, where migrant women were being “left behind”; men went to work and children went to school, both learning English through practice, and therefore assimilating much easier within New Zealand society. Traditional gender roles were clearly playing a part in this imbalance, as it was culturally uncommon for women to work.
“[Elisha] realised that because of the gender pay gap, because of the traditional gender split roles, it would normally be the dad going out to work because he would earn more. Mum would stay home and look after the kids and possibly not learn English, making it harder to learn a language, to assimilate into the community really well. If they needed to go to an appointment, they’d take one of the kids out of school, who have picked up English faster… [Elisha] saw that and realised that these are awesome women who weren’t getting to do their ‘thing’! She saw them falling by the wayside.”
But why fashion manufacturing? Elisha was learning to sew for herself at the time, and saw the potential in being able to teach and learn a skill that could be shown, thereby transcending language barriers.
“When you have people with varying levels of language, communication can be difficult. Doing something that you can show someone how to do it, that’s a good way to bond and learn… It’s a tangible skill and reaches across language.”
Underwear proved to be a great staple garment to start with, for both manufacturing and selling, as they transcend fashion choices and traditional dress. Nisa has since expanded into activewear and swimwear.
“While not everyone has the same fashion sense, generally people always wear underwear… It’s something everyone could enjoy, regardless [of whether] they came in in a hijab or [other clothing].”
The biggest positive impact of Nisa’s innovation is for their employees. They are paid at least the current living wage and are provided with additional educational development opportunities. They are well-supported to complete tertiary study while also making a living, which uplifts them and assimilates them into New Zealand society in greater ways than they may otherwise experience. For example, one recent proud moment for the Nisa team was when one of their colleagues bought a house, which is a challenge for anyone in New Zealand’s current housing market. The Nisa team celebrate all of these wonderful life moments together, which helps to create a sense of family and support.
“Often the people who are working here might not have anyone close by for those little [life-moments]… you want someone to be on that journey with you for those little nail-biting moments, or the victories, or the tears… Having people on that journey with you and having some sort of sense of family, that is what we try to do.”
This first area of impact helps to progress the Sustainable Development Goals of Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG8), No Poverty (SDG1) and Quality Education (SDG4).
A secondary positive impact from Nisa’s business model is their focus on producing sustainable products. Their garments are made from natural and recycled materials, using low-waste processes, thereby reducing the impact their products have on the planet and their supply chain. This, in combination with their mission of employing migrant women in New Zealand, has started to attract other New Zealand fashion brands to have their products produced by Nisa. New Zealand’s garment manufacturing industry has been on the decline for decades, but Nisa is helping to reshore manufacturing for the local fashion industry, in a more sustainable and ethical way. They are building back better.
“Zeenya’s (NZ activewear brand) leggings were being made in Brazil and she didn’t realise she could have them made in New Zealand. She found us and so now we manufacture all her technical [garments] for her.”
This secondary area of impact helps to progress the goals of Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG12) and Partnership for the Goals (SDG17).
Nisa’s ethical mission and sustainable production methods have gained attention from the local New Zealand fashion industry and positioned it well to become the manufacturing arm of other New Zealand brands, like Zeenya. This benefits not only the business through growth of production and employment beyond their own products, but it also benefits the local fashion industry as brands look to build resiliency into their supply chains by bringing their manufacturing back onshore. A New Zealand Made label has historically had a level of trust and high quality associated with it, but much of New Zealand’s manufacturing moved offshore from the 1980’s onwards, when the industry was no longer protected by central government and import tariffs were removed. Nisa is helping to grow this local legacy again.
The partnership Nisa has with the Red Cross has benefited the business greatly, as it established a clear and direct source of potential employees from day one, simplifying their recruitment process. Once employees have spent some time with Nisa and experienced the positive support they show their people, word-of-mouth referrals start spreading amongst the families and communities of the current employees, and the business is approached directly by people seeking employment. Nisa cares for their employees’ wellbeing, like family would, which helps with morale and the resilience of their people. They also make sure to bring their employees into every part of the business, which in turn builds resiliency into the business’s structure.
“We try to include everyone in how the business runs. So people here probably know more about our P&L than other businesses, because we want everyone to understand what position we’re in, where we’re coming from, where we’re trying to get to, and how they fit into and help us achieve that… Everyone mucks in, everyone does a bit of everything… We strengthen the business for the long-term by having everyone as involved as we can in all aspects [of the business].”
The brand’s reputation has flourished through this innovation, and garnered media attention when the business closed in July 2023. The remaining employees set up a PledgeMe campaign to raise the capital to keep the business running, and through their loyal customer base and the increased exposure they received through local media during July to September 2023, the campaign raised the required $80,000 in the first 24 hours, and closed at a total of $165,000 in September. A month later the business was back up and running, now with existing employees at the helm as the new CEO and part-owners.
“[Through] our big social media presence, people are hearing about us, people are wanting to support us, wanting to support New Zealand Made, and wanting to support our mission.”
Nisa’s innovation benefits society through providing a clear career pathway for migrant women, while supporting them through their higher education journey, and helping them settle more seamlessly into their new community in Wellington. They often have multiple members of a migrant family join their team, which multiplies the level of support that family receives during an otherwise difficult time settling into a new country.
“Our social benefit is being in an environment where people actually genuinely care about you every day… When people arrive into New Zealand as a refugee they usually aren’t coming directly, they’ve already spent some time in a transit country, usually for a number of years. So just having a bit of ease and comfort around you, with the people that you’re with on a daily basis… Just having that ‘family’ connection… that amount of contact with people, it just helps. There’s no way it can be bad.”
The Nisa store and workshop in Wellington is designed in such a way that visiting customers can see the garments being manufactured in real-time, as the racks of underwear are surrounded by the buzzing sewing machines. This transparency of production answers the popular Fashion Revolution question of “who made my clothes?”, building trust with their customers that their garments are indeed made locally, in a positive environment.
“We have a really, really loyal following of customers... People really like that we manufacture in New Zealand. They like that we use sustainable practices. They also love our employment mission. And this is helping to bring labels back to New Zealand.”
Nisa’s focus on producing locally-made, low-waste products, from organic and recycled materials, has a positive benefit on both the local environment and that of their supplier countries, through the minimisation of chemicals and waste. They are also using their influence in the local industry to challenge brands to consider how they can redesign their products towards a low-waste or even zero-waste ethos.
“This is probably a long-term project, but we’re trying to become a zero-waste manufacturer… Both for ourselves and the people we manufacture for. So [we’re] getting people to think about the different ways you have to make things, for that to happen.”
Nisa is a beautiful example of a business who can be deemed sustainable for all the right reasons, and whose positive impact ripples out from their core activity of making underwear, to improve the lives of so many.
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Pam Lowe, CEO and General Manager
Nisa is a New Zealand based sustainable clothing company which was established to provide employment opportunities for women from refugee and migrant backgrounds. They manufacture underwear, activewear and swimwear; choosing sustainable fabrics which have minimal impact on people and planet, and processes which minimise waste. Nisa means 'women' in Arabic.