Transparency ~ The process & people behind our products

We know quality is important to you because it's important to us too. We do our very best to ensure we produce only the best quality products for you to love, from our fedoras to our hat brushes and apparel.

It's important for us to ensure we're doing the right thing by our customers, our suppliers, ourselves, our communities and our planet which is why we share our products and processes with you here.

Our brand includes beautifully made products that are 100% wool, cotton, raffia straw and bamboo. A number of our accessories include leather elements and are handcrafted to perfection.

Not only are these gorgeous natural fibres amazing to wear but they also last a lot longer than synthetic alternatives so they can be recycled or passed on.

Over the past 4 years we've worked hard to establish and maintain positive and mutually beneficial relationships with our factories.

Through constant communication, mutual respect, understanding and a common goal of producing high quality products we've developed a team we are really proud to work with.

We are constantly learning and making small but significant changes within our business to try and reduce our impact. We can't do everything (yet) and we don't always get it right but we think it's important to do our part.

One of our objectives is to reduce the amount of single use plastic and packaging we use across our entire business. We use compostable courier satchels and reuse shipping cartons.

If you've read our story you'll know all about how MATB came about, the inspiration behind the brand and the process Founder Tania Eves went through to get to where the brand is now. We wanted to share a little more about my products and the amazing people we work with to bring them to life.

The product

• Our products are designed here in New Zealand by Founder Tania Eves who personally works one on one with our accredited Chinese and New Zealand based manufacturers, to design a product that is uniquely ours.
• Our fedoras are made from 100% Australian Wool imported as a raw material.
• We use genuine leather for the embossed headband, faux suede for the Don bands and 100% cotton for the sweatband.
• Every hat is delivered in a custom made hat box from NZ based company Quick Brown Box

The process

• The manufacturing of our hats is a 2 part process. The transition from raw material to hat body is done by a machine and then the sewing, embellishing, inspecting and packing is done by a small team of skilled female artisans.
• We only use sea freight to ship our hats from China to New Zealand. Although this can take, on average, 5 weeks longer we believe it is a more sustainable and environmentally friendly freight option.
• Once the wide brims arrive in New Zealand and have been inspected by NZ customs they are delivered to our Papamoa warehouse where they are inspected again by our small team. 
• Every order is hand picked and packed, including a hand written note which are printed by local company Kale Print.
• Orders are shipped around NZ, Australia and the rest of the world with PBT and New Zealand Post. 

The people

• MATB is owned by Five Percent Brands Limited. A joint venture between co-owners Tania Eves and Todd Hilleard. 
• The handful of incredibly skilled artisans who produce our wide brims in China work in safe, supportive and healthy environments. They are paid fairly and work reasonable hours and many of them have families of their own who they can comfortably support.
• We work with a number of great local businesses here in New Zealand from shipping agents to print partners, photographers and event companies.

As always please feel free to email us or leave a comment below.