Aerofast now stock more than 100 retail items and can be found in over 3,000 outlets across Australasia. We now produce in excess of 500,000 tiedowns a year, and over 2 million metres of webbing using nearly 100 tonnes of yarn.
A passionate motorcycle enthusiast starts a company in Christchurch. The first product was our now famous motorcycle tiedowns with the innovative soft loop designed to be easy to use and protect the motorcycles handlebars.
The original owner wanted to get his pilot’s license. He used the company to fund this as fast as he could, hence the brand name AERO and FAST.
Introduction of Motorcycle Tiedown range to the Australian market.
Mid 90’s – Aerofast was sold to a new owner who started to extend the range of products and moved into a new larger factory.
One of the longest standing employees and Aerofast's first national sales, Mike Bell is employed.
The Aerofast range is introduced to its first hardware store Mitre10.
Aerofast are introduced to both its first rural and general retail stores.
A computerised cutting machine is introduced to the production line, drastically increasing production capabilities
Two further sales reps are added to the North Island
Aerofast was bought by the Preston family. Bryan was a CEO of General Cable and Jon was an ex-New Zealand All Black. The Prestons invested heavily in new quality systems and controls, which included improved product testing facilities.
The business was relocated to a new, larger purpose-built factory.
Aerofast acquire new testing facilities and no longer need to go out of house for testing of components and products.
Aerofast was purchased by the Eddie and Vicki Mulligan. A major drive to refresh and improve the branding, marketing and sales execution of the Aerofast brand begun.
New premium components and a wider range of webbing colours were introduced for the first time.
New refreshed Aerofast branding and product categories developed to make it clearer and easier for consumers to choose the most suitable tiedown for their application.
Introduction of extensive Marine Range exclusively distributed around Australia and New Zealand by BLA.
New specification, higher tenacity yarn from Spain, revised weaving structures and sewing patterns are re-engineered to enable a 20-30% increase in the strength of all of Aerofast’s polypropylene based products.
Buyers guide was created. A colour-coded guide to match product packaging was first introduced to the New Zealand market to make it easier for consumers to determine the tiedown most suitable for their needs.
Introduction of extensive range to Autobarn and AutoPro Australia.
Two devastating earthquakes hit Christchurch. Testimony to the factory, the building withstood a 1 in 1,000 year event. However inside the building was another story. Miraculously, there was not a single injury. Despite some staff losing their homes, significant and very scary aftershocks, products were being dispatched within 48 hours and production re-commenced within 5 days.
Introduction of a comprehensive Aerofast range to Australian hardware with distribution partnership formed with the Airco Group.
The Aerofast range is introduced to Australian rural retail stores with a distribution partnership forming with Shoof International
Investment in a new four-headed loom further increasing manufacturing capacity by 50%.
Despite huge competition from imported products, Aerofast are still the leading load restraint supplier in New Zealand. We have tailor-designed products to suit a wide range of uses from car transporter tiedowns, warehouse safety restraints to roof rack tiedowns.