CHRISTCHURCH: The New Zealand company that founded sportswear colossus Canterbury has joined the growing queue of brands that have fallen into the hands of receivers.
The bankers of Christchurch-based clothing manufacturer Lane Walker Rudkin Industries (LWRI) appointed external administrators after the company's debt reached $50 million.
The company operates factories in several New Zealand towns, as well as Brisbane, and around 500 jobs are now under threat as a result of the action.
BDO Spicers has been appointed as receiver.
The National Distribution Union Clothing and Textiles secretary Maxine Gay told national broadcaster TVNZ she believed poor management was at the heart of the receivership.
Gay claimed LWRI has known about the company's poor financial position for some time but had failed to pass on its concerns to workers.
It is understood the company will keep trading in the hope a buyer can be found.
According to its website, LWRI was established in 1904 and supplied the All Blacks uniform for most of the 20th century through the Canterbury brand it founded.
It also made uniforms for New Zealand soldiers in both World Wars and introduced the Jockey Y-front into New Zealand in 1940.