Initially a screen printing company supporting the reintroduction of Hip-Hop producer, emcee and beatboxer King Kapisi's clothing label, Overstayer into the market. We are focused on networking, sharing knowledge and 'encouraging our communities to seek peace, unity and safely having fun in the living of Hip Hop.
:: About Overstayer Clothing ::
Overstayer Clothing was created by South Pacific Hi
p-Hop Artist, King Kapisi. The initial idea for the label was a t-shirt design based on the Samoan Flag with four Hip-Hop elements incorporated into the design. A year and several successful New Zealand music chart singles later, King Kapisi was presented with the opportunity to create a full-scale clothing line in collaboration with NZ skateboard label designers, Poynter. Overstayer Clothing became the first local urban label to be introduced into NZ’s largest departmental clothing store, The Farmers Trading Company. Overstayer then went on to present its clothing range at New Zealand Fashion week two years consecutively with successful inroads into one of Australia’s largest departmental clothing company’s, Myers. Though Overstayer is considered an urban street label, its corporate operations and focus moved further away from its initial market, not unlike many street labels when expanding. After much consideration, it was decided that King Kapisi would end the partnership with his licensee and return Overstayer back to its early beginnings. With a manually operated screen-printing carousal in their garage, Overstayer is now a home run business. The package and distribution area is in what used to be their lounge area, and their office is set up in the study of their home. Overstayer Clothing is a family affair.
:: History of the Polynesian Overstayer ::
The name Overstayer is derived from a racially charged period in New Zealands history. During the sixties, the expansion of New Zealand’s industries required a pool of unskilled labour. The government looked to the South Pacific for this resource and policies were put into place to ensure the most suitable candidates were chosen. As the economy grew, a blind eye attitude was taken towards expired working permits until the mid 70’s when the Muldoon led National Party used the so-called overpopulation of Polynesians as a reason for the economical downturn regarding the unsubstantiated burden these Overstayers forced upon social services and employment levels. In fact, with the assistance of the government and media coverage at the time, the word overstayer was synonymous with Polynesian, ensuring not only daily victimization through the alienation of racism but also institutionalized racism was woven into the fabric of New Zealand society. These allegations caused a serious divide between some New Zealanders, sparked further by sporadic unwarranted police arrests of predominantly Polynesian males, the unfair work conditions of Polynesian workers due to the lack of understanding of their legal rights, early morning dawn raids on family homes and the appalling housing conditions provided for Polynesians amongst other incidents. In turn, these events gave birth to the rise of the Polynesian Panthers Movement, a group of mostly 17-19 year olds, inspired by a movement in the United States at the same time, The Black Panther Party.
