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Fern Friendly

At the Fern Brand we have sound and long standing relationships with our suppliers and have been working with many for over 40 years. They are as dedicate as we are to ensuring ethical practices are employed at all stages of the production process. We have transparent supplier production chains and know where our items are produced and how. We have visited their factories, met their employees and met their families. Our relationships have gone beyond the transactional relationship and developed into lifetime friendships. We have been lucky enough to welcome many of our suppliers to New Zealand to show them our beautiful country.

Sustainability is extremely important to us and our Fern Naturals line is 100% Natural, planet friendly, palm oil free, housed in compostable packaging and made in New Zealand while supporting our local industries and small businesses. We use hero New Zealand native ingredients to showcase our uniqueness to the world.

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Fern Naturals

Nature is Best

adorable agriculture animal animal photography
beautiful beauty bee bloom

Our 100% Natural Soap on a Rope is made with ingredients that feeds your skin while cleansing. What is Natural? Our definition is using ingredients that come from what nature provides us – plants, mineral, vegetable or from an animal product such as Lanolin Sheep’s wool (oil) or Honey. No ingredients we use are synthetic.

Shea Butter

Avocado Oil, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil and Shea Butter are some of Natures best tools for moisturising and will nourish your skin. These ingredients also so effective in removing the muddiest of mud – no rubbing kids knees leaving them red – its just slides right off! The addition of Tea Tree oil not only smells great but is antibacterial and Lanolin has always been an undisputed winner in the conditioning world and we love it. Manuka is such a Hero essential oil that just finishes our star line up of ingredients. Many soaps use synthetic fragrances to enhance their soaps however we will always stick to using Mother Natures beautiful scents.

avocado close up colors cut
bowl being poured with yellow liquid
broken coconuts

Enjoy.

Fern Naturals

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Significance of the Silver Fern

The ‘silver fern’ Cyathea dealbata – ponga in te reo Māori – is a species of tree fern only found in New Zealand. This distinctly New Zealand symbol is considered a badge of honour by the people, products and services of our country that carry it.

According to Māori legend, the silver fern once lived in the sea. It was asked to come and live in the forest to guide the Māori people.

The hunters and warriors used the silver underside of the fern leaves to find their way home. When bent over, the fronds would catch the moonlight and shine a path through the forest.

The Silver Fern is the national emblem of New Zealand and has been the symbol of New Zealand’s national rugby team since the 1880s and is now proudly worn by all our top athletes.

Tourism New Zealand and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) have adopted the silver fern as the country of origin symbol for New Zealand. 

New Zealand’s national museum ( Te Papa ) includes a good write up of this history here which covers how baked into the New Zealand culture the Silver Fern is. With wikipedia providing additional insight on the scientific classification.

The Silver Fern has also caused controversy with the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) attempting to trademark usage of it; requiring concerned business leaders to revoke the trademark thus protecting its usage for all New Zealanders. We cover this in more detail here 

The New Zealand national Netball team are named the ‘Silver Ferns’  The New Zealand women’s rugby team is known as the ‘Black Ferns’, a composite of All Blacks and Silver Ferns. Although they wear a silver fern on their jersey, the name Black Ferns actually refers to the black tree fern (mamaku) the tallest tree fern in New Zealand.

The ancient fern has a history rich in symbolism often symbolizing eternal youth. To the indigenous Maori of New Zealand, the fern represented new life and new beginnings. 

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Neil in the news

From 2011

The New Zealand Rugby Union has been red-carded in its bid to trademark the silver fern for exclusive use in All Blacks merchandise. See the following articles for more details:

Neil the founder of Crawford Souvenirs was a leading member of this consortium  and is quoted as saying that the trademark application “forced us to act to defend a national symbol on a black jersey for future generations, and not be ring-fenced for the commercial benefit of one organisation”.