Posted on 09/18/2003 11:51:18 AM PDT by bedolido
WELLINGTON (AP) - A New Zealand outdoor-clothing company said Wednesday it had to change a brand name for the Australian market because men there were uncomfortable with the effeminate associations of the label - Fairydown.
In Australia, the clothing line has been renamed Zone, the managing director of Arthur Ellis clothing company, Hugo Venter, told the Dominion Post newspaper.
Venter said he was "taken aback" by market research findings that Australian men didn't like the less-than-macho connotations associated with the word "fairy." He said the brand name had never been an issue in New Zealand.
New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary, who conquered Everest in 1953 wearing Fairydown clothes and using a sleeping bag by the same company, said Australian males were being ridiculous.
"Reading that connotation into the name is just absolutely stupid. It's a good brand."
"I have a Fairydown jacket and I am very proud to wear it," he told the newspaper.
He said his sleeping bag performed well until the expedition was close to the summit of Mt. Everest.
"At our highest camp at 28,000 feet (8,500 metres) it was a bit on the chilly side. We survived and pushed on to the summit," he said.
,,, he asked, knowingly.
Once Fairydown is renamed, they'll probably buy the company and tell the world it's always been a hugely successful Aussie company.
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