Kapinua

What Kapinua does

Kapinua is a New Zealand-based custom apparel company that operates a direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform for full-garment sublimation printing. The company is registered as a division of Company Branding Shop Ltd., headquartered at 57 Main Road South, Levin, and ships globally with free shipping in six currencies and storefronts in English and German. Its product range spans men's, women's, and children's apparel, including T-shirts, polo shirts, singlets, hoodies, leggings, dresses, pants, shorts, ice hockey jerseys, rowing suits, and accessories such as hats, towels, and face masks, organized into sports-specific sub-categories including handball, volleyball, athletics, running, waka ama, and e-sports.

The company's core technology is sublimation printing that applies full-color, high-resolution graphics directly onto every fiber of a garment from seam to seam, including sleeves and collar, without design borders. This is paired with an integrated online 3D designer tool that allows customers to upload artwork, preview the result from all angles, and use a team-wear function for serial individualization of player names, numbers, and sizes. The production process is uniform across single-unit and bulk orders, enabling a no-minimum-order-quantity model that serves individual consumers, sports teams, and corporate buyers through the same channel.

Kapinua monetizes through one-time per-unit transactions priced individually with volume discounts (example single-unit pricing of US$36-100 per garment depending on style). It has received two small grants from Callaghan Innovation (2017 and 2020) and has no disclosed institutional venture or private equity capital. The company is privately held, operates with 1-10 employees, and has no public revenue disclosure.

Name

Kapinua

Legal name

Company Branding Shop, Ltd.

Website

https://kapinua.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Kapinua is a New Zealand-based e-commerce company that uses full-garment sublimation printing and an online 3D designer tool to sell custom all-over printed apparel to sports teams, businesses, and individual consumers globally with no minimum order quantity.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Custom Printed Apparel

NAICS

Apparel Manufacturing (315), Clothing and Clothing Accessories Retailers (458110), Apparel Accessories and Other Apparel Manufacturing (3159)

SIC

Apparel & Other Finishd Prods Of Fabrics & Similar Matl (2300), Retail-Apparel & Accessory Stores (5600)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYIMAOAEAG

Underwear, Lingerie & Hosiery Cut & Sew

Industrials, Manufacturing & Construction/Textiles, Apparel & Leather Manufacturing/Apparel Manufacturing (Cut & Sew)

SECONDARYCRAMACAK

Sportswear Customization & Printing Retail

Consumer Products & Retail/Sporting Goods & Outdoor Retail/Athletic Footwear & Sport Apparel Retail

SECONDARYIMAOAEAF

Dresses, Skirts & Tailored Apparel Cut & Sew (Suits/Formalwear)

Industrials, Manufacturing & Construction/Textiles, Apparel & Leather Manufacturing/Apparel Manufacturing (Cut & Sew)

Keywords

• Custom apparel printing
• Sublimation printing service
• 3D shirt designer
• Team wear customization
• All-over garment printing

Headquarters

HQ city

Levin

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Custom Printed Garment Sales: One-time transaction sales of custom all-over printed garments. Customers design their own apparel using the online designer tool and purchase directly through the e-commerce platform. Pricing varies by garment type and customization complexity.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Kapinua manufactures and sells custom all-over sublimation-printed apparel through a self-serve online platform (kapinua.com) with an integrated 3D design tool. The company prints full-colour designs directly onto every fibre of a range of garments — including t-shirts, polos, hoodies, singlets, leggings, dresses, sports jerseys, hats, face masks and towels — from seam to seam and across sleeves and collar with no borders. Customers design, preview, and order garments online with no minimum order quantity, and the same quality process is applied whether buying a single item or in bulk.

Product overview

Kapinua is a New Zealand-based custom apparel printing company operating a unified e-commerce platform with integrated 3D design tools. The core offering consists of sublimation printing services applied to a portfolio of garment products organized across men's, women's, and children's categories, supplemented by an online 3D shirt designer, team wear serial individualisation features, and an optional proof service. Products include T-shirts, polo shirts, singlets, hoodies, dresses, leggings, shorts, pants, ice hockey jerseys, rowing suits, hats, towels, and face masks. The company also offers sports-specific apparel for handball, volleyball, athletics, running, waka ama, and e-sports. All products share the same sublimation printing technology and design tools, unified by the all-over printing capability that prints from seam to seam without borders.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Online 3D Shirt Designer An online design tool with integrated 3D preview that lets users upload their own designs, graphics and photos, place them anywhere on a garment, and preview the result from all angles before ordering sublimation-printed apparel.
• All-Over Sublimation Printing Full-coverage sublimation printing applied directly onto every fibre of the garment from seam to seam, including sleeves and collar, with no borders and no limits to design coverage.
• Custom Men's T-Shirts (Mount Albert, Kingsland, Mount Eden) Men's t-shirts in short- and long-sleeve cuts with round or V-necks (including the Mount Albert, Kingsland and Mount Eden styles), available for custom all-over sublimation printing.
• Custom Polo Shirts (Thames, Raglan) Men's polo shirts in set-in short sleeve and raglan cuts available for custom all-over sublimation printing.
• Custom Women's T-Shirts and Dresses (Greenlane, Avondale, Herne Bay, Himatangi Beach, Rongotea) Women's t-shirts in short- and long-sleeve cuts and women's dresses (sleeveless and polo styles) available for custom all-over sublimation printing.
• Custom Hoodies (Gaddums Hill, Elgin, Inner Kaiti, Riverdale) Unisex hoodies — pull-over and zipped variants, with or without printable lining in the hood — available for custom all-over sublimation printing.
• Custom Singlets (Kohukohu, Glenorchy) Men's basketball and reversible racerback singlets available for custom all-over sublimation printing.
• Custom Ice Hockey Jersey (Maungataniwha) Unisex 5-panel ice and inline hockey jersey available for custom all-over sublimation printing.
• Custom Leggings (Kaimai, Tauranga) Women's standard and extra-long leggings available for custom all-over sublimation printing.
• Custom Pants and Shorts (Matakana Island, Katikati) Unisex long pants and unisex shorts available for custom all-over sublimation printing.
• Custom Kids Apparel (Epsom, Ellerslie) Children's short-sleeve and sleeveless t-shirts in age-appropriate sizing, available for custom all-over sublimation printing.
• Custom Sports-Specific Apparel (Handball, Volleyball, Athletics, Running, Waka Ama, E-Sports) Custom all-over sublimation-printed apparel and accessories tailored for sport-specific use cases including handball, volleyball, athletics, running, waka ama, and e-sports.
• Custom Headwear (Awahuri Bucket Hat) Unisex bucket hat available for custom all-over sublimation printing.
• Custom Face Mask Custom printed face mask available for sublimation printing with sizing instructions provided.
• Custom Towel (Solander Islands) Customisable rectangle towel available in three sizes, with superior softness and absorbency, for personalisation via sublimation printing.
• Optional Proof Service Optional paid service in which Kapinua's design team reviews the customer's submitted design for printability and clear errors before production begins.

Quantifiable outcome

• Full colour range with high resolution printing on all garment areas including sleeves and collar

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Printful: Global print-on-demand and custom apparel platform serving creators, SMBs, and brands with sublimation, DTG, and embroidery. Directly comparable on technology breadth and self-serve online ordering, though Printful operates at much larger scale with fulfillment centers across multiple regions.
• TeamShirt: European custom team apparel platform with online designer and free shipping, focused on jerseys and team wear for sports clubs. Highly comparable to Kapinua's sports-team vertical and shared German-language market.
• Custom Ink: US-based custom apparel platform offering screen-printed and embroidered team apparel, corporate uniforms, and event merchandise through an online design tool. Directly comparable on product offering (custom decorated apparel), customer base (teams and businesses), and online-led GTM, but at vastly larger scale.
• Spreadshirt: Germany-headquartered custom apparel and print-on-demand platform with a strong European footprint and multilingual storefronts. Directly comparable to Kapinua on sublimation-style product offering, multi-currency/multi-language site, and team-and-individual customer base.
• SquadLocker: US-based custom team apparel and gear platform serving schools, clubs, and youth sports organizations with an online team store model. Directly comparable on the sports-team vertical and recurring season-based demand.
• Shirtinator: German custom apparel platform with online design tool for individual and team orders, including all-over print and embroidery. Directly comparable in product offering, customer segments (sports teams and consumers), and European GTM.
• Printify: Print-on-demand marketplace connecting merchants to a global print network, with apparel as a core category. Comparable as a self-serve custom apparel platform, though Printify's model is asset-light and aggregator-based vs. Kapinua's in-house production.

Broad incumbents

• Vistaprint (Cimpress): Large multi-category print and marketing products platform (parent of Custom Ink) serving SMBs with apparel as one of many offerings. Comparable as a broad incumbent in custom-printed apparel for businesses, but with vastly wider product scope.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Kapinua
• Facebookfacebook.com/kapinua
• Pinterestpinterest.com/Kapinua

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kapinua