AS Colour

AS Colour
Company type
Private
IndustryApparel
Founded2005; 21 years ago (2005) in Parnell, New Zealand
FounderLawrence Railton
Headquarters
Auckland
,
New Zealand
Number of locations
28 stores (2026)
Area served
Worldwide
  • Approx. NZ$500 million
 (2025)
Websiteascolour.com

AS Colour (short for "apparel studio") is a clothing retailer and manufacturer from New Zealand, specialising in "high quality but affordable" blank apparel.[1] While it operates 28 direct-to-consumer retail stores,[2] the majority of its business is wholesale supply to screen-printers and embroiders.[1]

AS Colour was founded in 2005 by Lawrence Railton, who initially operated the company from his garage in the Auckland suburb of Parnell.[1] Railton was inspired to begin the company, after his friend from the band Elemeno P struggled to find high-quality blanks to use for screenprinting their concert T-shirts.[3]: 0:20 

Railton initially imported 20,000 men's-style t-shirts to resell from American wholesaler All Style Apparel. The first AS Colour-designed and manufactured product was a women's-style t-shirt, sold alongside the imported men's t-shirts; by 2009, AS Colour was exclusively selling their own products.[4][5]

By March 2026, the company had expanded to 16 retail stores in New Zealand and 12 worldwide,[2][1] and operates from six distribution centres across New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.[6][4] The National Business Review estimates that by 2025, the company was valued at between NZ$1 – $1.5 billion, with annual sales of NZ$500 million.[4]

Baptist World Aid Australia gave AS Colour a score of 65 (out of 100) in their 2024 Ethical Fashion Guide, placing them in the top 20% of brands assessed.[7] The brand is supplied by 37 factories worldwide, with locations in Bangladesh, China, Mauritius, Thailand and Vietnam.[1][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Gleason, Emma (10 March 2026), "How New Zealand's AS Colour built a billion-dollar business out of blank T-shirts", The Spinoff, retrieved 10 March 2026
  2. ^ a b Beevers, Angela (30 March 2026). "AS Colour to make Yorkshire debut at Victoria Leeds | Retail Bulletin". Retail Bulletin | Daily UK Retail News. Retrieved 7 May 2026.
  3. ^ Railton, Lawrence (22 June 2023). Greater in common: AS Colour (video). Interviewed by Machell, John. Westpac New Zealand – via LinkedIn.
  4. ^ a b c Mace, Will (10 December 2025). "AS Colour founder's journey from garage bands to global brand". National Business Review. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  5. ^ Medcalf, Graham (20 July 2014), "Why AS Colour is the new black - Idealog", Idealog, retrieved 10 March 2026
  6. ^ Raynel, Tom (9 December 2025), "AS Colour sells stake to Quadrant as Direct Capital trims holding", The New Zealand Herald, retrieved 10 March 2026
  7. ^ Snodgrass, Gina; Halliday, Katherine (October 2024). Ethical Fashion Report (PDF) (Report) (10th ed.). Baptist World Aid Australia. p. 16.
  8. ^ "Our Factories". AS Colour NZ. Retrieved 10 March 2026.
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