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Getting Dressed in NZ is a Serious Business

By VICE Staff

Your typical, casual observer would likely claim that New Zealand is a relatively chill country. While we'd tend to agree, we'd also bring up the fact that despite its laid-back nature, New Zealand has something of a gang problem. The Mongrel Mob and Black Power, whose colors are red and blue respectively, are two of the largest and they occasionally have issues with anyone brave or careless enough to wear their rival's colors - apparently even the odd innocent baby.

We first heard about this issue more than five years ago after speaking to one of the guys in marketing at Converse, who told us that they don't make or order red Cons regularly because stores are reluctant to stock them for fear of gang reprisals. We followed up with various store owners and while most of them told us they stocked whatever colors they liked, people definitely seemed to be mindful of waving the wrong color flag in the right place.

Also, according to a car-yard salesman we spoke to, the least popular car color is red, but not so much because people fear what members of the gangs will do to them or their cars as they just don't want to be identified as being a member of the Mongrel Mob. Parents think twice before buying their kids red bikes or helmets, and a cancer charity group that sells bandannas to raise funds, has stopped offering red or blue scarves to avoid the inevitable hoo-ha.

Also making its way onto the potentially-problematic-colors-to-wear list is yellow, thanks to relatively new Auckland based gang the Killer Beez. They're affiliated with the Tribesmen bikies and have released this song called "Put Your Colourz On" so at least there's no confusion here. I guess it's green and navy for the rest of us. Oh well.

By VICE Staff 2 years ago Like · Comment · Share