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Barnstormer: NZ-AUS Launched At Wanaka

High Quality Aviation Themed Apparel

Graeme Frew, well known New Zealand warbird pilot (and owner of Yak-3 racer 'Full Noise") recently had one of those experiences where a chance encounter suddenly propelled his life trajectory in an unexpected direction.

The recent Warbirds Over Wanaka International Airshow (New Zealand) was the chance for Graeme and his new business partner, Maxime Senente, to launch their new 'Barnstormer : New Zealand - Australia' clothing and merchandise business. Thousands of avid aviation enthusiasts passed by the Barnstormer outlet during the course of the airshow weekend, and virtually all were impressed by the quality of the clothing ranges on offer.

Graeme had this to say about how the new venture had its beginnings:

It came about through Reno. We went back last year to the last ever Reno Air Races, and we were walking around the race pits and we saw Maxime and Victoria and his business partners selling their aviation clothing in front of the P-51C model Thunderbird that Jimmy Stewart used to own, and we were just struck with the design detail and the quality of the garments. We struck up a conversation about a Full Noise range initially, and that led into a more detailed conversation about Barnstormer operating in New Zealand and Australia. "

Maxime continued by saying:

We got a very nice feeling with Graeme and Paula, and Victoria and I started having the conversation about bringing our clothes company to New Zealand, because even in Europe and the United States, the historical aviation scene in New Zealand is really famous. For us it was a possible market to bring the Barnstormer brand to New Zealand, but we didn't think it would occur for another 10 or 15 years."

One of the striking things about the Barnstormer clothing ranges is their quality and attention to detail, as noted by Graeme:

I was really impressed when Maxime and Victoria produced the original Full Noise range. Originally we just wanted to refresh the range and so now we've got a very high quality t-shirt, a lovely polo shirt in two different designs, the jacket, and some new caps as well. Then they came up with a range based around the 'Wairarapa Wildcat', which is Geoff Fiskin's famous P-40 which he flew combat in the Pacific. They're really well studied with the history of it, and as soon as they came up with that design idea, we thought, 'Oh, that's just a perfect thing to celebrate the Pacific war aviation.'"

Graeme continued to point out the attention to detail that the Barnstormer designers put into their ranges,

Someone pointed out to me that the squadron badge on the Barnstormer Lancaster polo shirt was incorrect. But it's not supposed to be a perfect representation (of the Squadron crest) because the logo inside the badge is from the personal aircraft that it represents on the shirt. So we've taken various design aspects to tell the story, which I think is fantastic and it's something I love about the range that we've got.

For more details, and to purchase items from the Barnstormer: NZ-AUS ranges, check out their website:

https://www.barnstormer-nz-aus.com/

While this article and the accompanying video may read like an advertisement, the Historical Aviation Film Unit received no financial reward for this effort. We're simply enthusiastic about the new Barnstormer range, and Graeme and Paula's new business venture. In over 35 years of attending aviation events, we've never before seen such high quality aviation themed clothing and merchandise. If you have the chance to physically check out any of the Barnstormer items, then make sure you do -- in our opinion they're certainly worth the money, and are some of the nicest clothing items you'll find.

And if you can't check them out physically, think about grabbing something directly from their website:

https://www.barnstormer-nz-aus.com/

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