If you've ever wanted to officially rep 'Kia Kaha te Reo Māori' in your fit - your chance is coming.
Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (the Māori Language Commission) is dropping the coveted hoodies at The Warehouse, along with a bunch of tees, track pants and sweatshirts, all sporting the legendary hei tiki design with the mean rainbow tongue.
Nothing in the range is over $35, and it'll be in stores and online from the 14th of this month - just in time for Māori language week, which kicks off on the 16th.
The only way you could previously get your hands on the sweet as sweats was to win or be gifted one by Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori. The Kia Kaha te Reo Māori branding has also always been available for anyone to download and create their own DIY gear, but now they're cutting the hassle in half and putting the clothes online and on shelves across 20 different shops around Aotearoa.
They won't be in every store and if your local isn't one of them, you'll have to beat the rest of the motu to the website to get ya hands on some new threads, cause they’re looking to be pretty damn popular.
“Whānau, kōhanga, sports teams and workplaces can still print their own stuff to celebrate te reo Māori,” says Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori Tumu Whakahaere (Chief Executive), Ngahiwi Apanui-Barr. “They just can’t sell them.”
Hard luck if you were looking to make some extra coin on some homemade merch - it’s a big no-go!
“The Warehouse has been a ‘friend of’ te reo Māori for a long time and you see this on their in-store signage and bilingual branding on many of their product lines,” says Ngahiwi Apanui-Barr.
“As a Kiwi company, te reo is important to us, our team, customers, and communities," adds Troy Rawhiti-Connell, Māori Development Lead at The Warehouse.
"We’ve been adding everyday reo to our private label products and packaging since 2019, so this apparel range is another exciting step for us."
Keen as! Now I just gotta learn how to say 'I got that drip' in Te Reo.
