At first glance, Polynesian Pride appears to be proudly Polynesian. A number of Māori designers – including one who has accused the site of copying her design – suspect otherwise.
As Matariki approaches, a New Zealand fashion designer is warning shoppers wanting to rep Māori design to be careful about what they’re buying and where it’s coming from.
Kat Tua, who runs the menswear brand Manaaki and takes inspiration from Māori art, weaving and storytelling in her designs, recently stumbled across a webstore called Polynesian Pride. Selling a vast range of clothes, accessories and homeware items covered in the patterns, flags and motifs of the Pacific Islands, it invites shoppers to “wear your heritage” and “express your pride in your Polynesian roots”.
Polynesian Pride targets an underserved market (you can’t buy this stuff at Farmers or AS Colour). Among the 32 countries and cultures the site caters to are New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Niue, Vanuatu and Kiribati. Even residents of Pitcairn Island, population 35, have hundreds of items to choose from. Among the endless array of items on the site are Matariki dresses, hoodies with the Kanak flag and T-shirts marking 50 years of Papua New Guinea independence, plus a polo shirt featuring a kiwi and kangaroo holding rifles in front of Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, because of course. But look closer and you’ll notice they’re not real clothes. Instead, clear-cut garments and faceless models are overlaid with (very obvious) computer-rendered graphics. This method allows for endless iterations of each category or theme. The range is unreal and so are the people; many models appear to be AI-generated.
Kat Tua of Manaaki (Photo: Apela Bell)
At first Tua ( Ngāti Kahu Ki Whangaroa, Ngāti Raukawa) was surprised by Polynesian Pride’s low prices: a pair of “Toitu Te Tiriti Leggings” will set you back $39.99 and a Matariki-themed laundry basket is $45.76. “Then I realised that it was this whole massive conglomerate of Polynesian brands all merged together in this gross AI thing.” Alarm bells started to ring when she looked at the use of Māori motifs like kōwhaiwhai and tāniko, elements that traditionally carry pūrākau (storytelling). Most used by Polynesian Pride aren’t technically accurate, explains Tua. “They’ve been stylised, put through AI, and then generated and formed in a different way, and it’s actually no longer Māori.” She sees it as another form of cultural and economic extraction. “It’s just money making.”
Tua isn’t the first to call out Polynesian Pride: people have been raising concerns online since at least 2023 . In 2025, designer and artist Rae Nordstrom (Ngāti Hine Waikato-Tainui and Ngāti Whakaue), AKA Native Disruptor, contacted the website after seeing one of her own patterns, a geometric design inspired by weaving that she first used on a range of skirts 20 years ago, on its products. “They’re making pillow cases, duvet covers, all sorts of things, with my design on it.” She didn’t receive a response to her email, sent to a support address listed on the site, and the products remain for sale.
Polynesian Pride’s ‘Brown Taniko Aotearoa Quilt’ is strikingly similar to Nordstrom’s taaniko wrap skirt (right) (Source: Facebook, @nativedisruptor)
But it’s not the first time Polynesian Pride has been warned about inappropriate use of Māori cultural elements. Lynell Tuffery Huria (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāruahinerangi, Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi), managing partner of Kāhui Legal and an expert in Māori intellectual property rights, says the site has been contacted in the past about culturally inappropriate designs and has removed items from sale in response. “I would definitely encourage any artists to reach out to them, point out that they’re infringing their copyright and get them to take it down,” she says.
Polynesian Pride LLC is registered in Wyoming in the US. The business address – 30 N. Gould Street, Sheridan – is one used by thousands of other companies, according to local news outlets , where its registered agents can act on behalf of “foreign entities” under state law. The local chamber of commerce receives weekly calls from customers trying to track down companies registered to the address. According to the Polynesian Pride website, orders are “meticulously” produced and dispatched from a fulfilment centre located in Shangrao, China. Products are likely made on demand, with each design printed on generic base items. This way the business, or its contracting manufacturers, can offer a huge range while holding minimal inventory. In online comment threads, customers have complained that the products, when they do arrive, don’t look like the pictures.
It’s one of the few options available to creatives. Beyond sending the email to which she hasn’t received a response, Nordstrom doesn’t see how challenging them is an option. “It’s too costly to fight anything like that with the law.”
Tuffery Huria agrees that it’s “a real unjust situation… There’s not a lot that art…
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