Koha - Māori Fashion Design 1986

There's an untapped market in Māori design and fashion, untapped. It should be really, really big I think, really big. Māori people have got a lot of taste and a lot of class and they should get out there and show it to the world.

– Designer Maria Scally encourages Māori fashion designers

Do it! At a hundred, just do it. Surround yourself with people who can see what you've got, just positivity, and do it.

– Designer Maria Scally gives advice to would be Māori fashion designers

I find a great deal of [inspiration] from my heritage. From my upbringing with my Māori grandmother, from the experiences that I've had on the various maraes, from nature, I've spent a lot of time in my childhood in the bush and I'm surrounded in my own homestead with beautiful native bush, and the korus pattern of course which is used extensively.

– Designer Matiu Chote on his inspirations for prints

Personally, I don't believe that fashion should be something that comes and goes all the time. I think something is personal taste for a person and they should develop their own fashions. For me, I'm someone who can give to certain people who connect with what I do. But I don't agree with a fashion industry that brings in designs for a season then whips them out and then brings in a new set for the next season.

– Designer Richard Bell on finding your own individual style sense

I see myself as a Māori person, I also see myself as a Pacific person. I'm from the Pacific and the Pacific people, whether they be Samoan or Māori or New Zealanders or whoever, but the Pacific influence is something that I feel within me that is very strong for me. So I work with that all the time.

– Richard Bell on reflecting his identity in his work

I believe that every Māori person out there is a Māori designer, and what im trying to do is coordinate those talents and that people actually do things that give them something spiritual. To create something is a very spiritual thing and what I'm trying to promote is the ihi that is in Māori people to come out through design on fabric.

– Hana Jackson on promoting Māori fashion design