Champions For Change

Have you heard of Paper Rain? We like to think of ourselves as Champions For Change. We are a social enterprise that's all about doing good through art and ethical creation. We specialise in unique apparel and strive to make a positive impact at every stage of our production, creation, and sales.

Our little Kiwi company is based in the sunny town of Mount Maunganui, and we're thrilled to be working with some of New Zealand's top artists. We take great care in curating each artwork to provide a range of products that support local artists and causes. We're pretty picky about where our materials come from and how they're made, but we think it's what sets our products apart and makes them high quality and unique.

So, if you're interested in products that are made with care and have a positive impact, you are in the right place! We are on a mission to inspire a community of change-makers. We'd love to share the journey with you.

  • ETHICS

    We believe that choosing fair trade means acknowledging every life has value and should be paid a living wage. We choose to partner with makers and suppliers that also hold these values. Everyone deserves a good life, safe working conditions and fair pay.

  • SUSTAINABILITY

    To be sustainable is to create something that has the potential to exist in an ongoing form. It means choosing materials and practices that don't come at the cost of the earth or the people involved in its creation. It means choosing organic cotton, sea freighted stock and having thought for the resources of our future generations.

  • COLLABORATION

    The best work is done when people work together. Collaboration is a huge part of our game plan. By working with a number of talented artists, we're able to offer a more diverse range of choices. By making a production chain which involves other kiwi social enterprises, we embrace working together instead of competing.

  • CAUSES

    We believe in good business - in all senses of the words! With every sale of our t-shirts and tote bags, a donation is made to a cause. On top of this, we support these charities through loudly championing their goals. Our customers help to support incredible organisations like KidsCan NZ, Silverline Otago and Trees That Count.

Our People

Trish and Terry are the passionate owners of Paper Rain, a small business that fuses art with ethical and sustainable products. They're both art enthusiasts with a big vision to spread the word about ethical and sustainable product options and supporting local artists and charitable causes. Through their stunning and eco-friendly art boards, they hope to inspire others to live a more sustainable lifestyle and make a positive impact on the communities around them.

You will find them living in Tauranga with their blended family of five kids. Busy times!

Paper Rain t-shirts are created as wardrobe staples that tell a story. Each with an artwork that was designed to help share the voice of a particular cause, our customers take ownership of positive impact. Our unique shapes (available in men’s, women’s and kid’s) are made from rain-fed, fair trade organic cotton sourced from our friends and fellow small NZ business Little Yellow Bird. They are printed right here in NZ too. We love to support local! 

  • SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS

    - Organic, rain-fed cotton grown in sync with seasonal cycles

    - Grown by farmers who are promoting sustainable agriculture

  • ETHICALLY MADE

    - Certified organic and fair trade manufacturing

    - Traceable from farm to factory

  • COLLABORATION

    - Unique, hand-drawn artworks are selected from kiwi and international artists

  • BY HAND

    - A t-shirt passes through so many hands before it reaches yours; every pair of hands is valued.

  • RECYCLABLE

    - Thanks to a new initiative by the kiwi social enterprise, Little Yellow Bird, our t-shirts are now fully recyclable

  • CAUSES

    - Each t-shirt is thoughtfully paired with a cause

    - We loudly champion these causes throughout our business

BOARD ART

Since their inception, skateboards have always been a canvas for creativity and expression. Paper Rain art boards are unqiue wall hanging artworks. Our unique, retro-inspired board shape helps to create a bepoke, accessible art form for the home. We absolutely love working with timber, a natural material that has a whole story and life of its own. The macrocarpa used to craft these boards is grown on a small wood lot in Marlborough. Paul, the grower, is passionate about sustainability and replacing heavily treated pine timbers with more sustainable alternatives grown in a way better suited to the environment. 

Made solely from timber with a plant-based finish, Paper Rain's series of artworks is laser etched into the wood. Like Paper Rain t-shirts, our boards boards sport a range of artworks by Kiwi artists. For each board sold, a native tree is planted by Trees That Count

Our hemp tote bags are soft, durable and recyclable and printed with non toxic inks. The perfect reusable bag to chuck in the car or fold up in your handbag to accompany you on a shopping trip.

We’ve teamed up with some fellow creatives with a mutual passion for conservation and the environment to produce these graphic bags. For each hemp tote sold a donation is made to an environmental or social cause.

If you'd like to read about our trip to visit our suppliers - & how we feel about ethics along our production line, read more with our Interview with Idealog Magazine.  For sustainability, and greener living, check out our feature with Ecostore.... There are a number of companies doing fantastic things to support sustainability, fair trade & organics and we think that's AWESOME. If there's a way you believe we can do better with what we have, please let us know. 

We want our customers to have access to a little piece NZ art, or a high-quality, hand-crafted product and know the story behind it's curves & lines. We honestly don't know what we'd do if it weren't for Paper Rain which is the heart & soul of our daily lives, as well as where we pitch our future. We really hope you like it too.