A Kiwi company that started life in a Taranaki farm shed less than a decade ago is now riding a global heatwave, with exports of its world-first wine cooler technology surging across the Northern Hemisphere.
Huski, the homegrown brand behind an ice-free Champagne cooler, has climbed to number one in its category on Amazon in the US, UK, Australia and Canada. The business is on track to double its eight-figure annual revenue this year, with sales spiking as extreme temperatures grip major export markets.
This summer, Europe and the US have seen record-shattering highs – Spain reached 46°C, Portugal hit 46.6°C, France logged its hottest June day since records began in 1947, and the UK and US endured prolonged heatwaves with cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas and Houston sweltering above 40°C for consecutive days.
Almost a million Huski beer and wine coolers have now been exported to more than 50 countries, including Germany, Japan and the UAE. The company also recently secured its largest-ever commercial order – 76,000 units to the UK.
What began with a PVC pipe prototype is now a patent-pending product range stocked in over 500 retail stores across New Zealand, Australia, Japan and the US, and has been featured by global outlets including Rolling Stone, Vogue, GQand Oprah’s Favorite Things.
Co-founder Simon Huesser says the inspiration came from a simple observation: Champagne has been enjoyed since the 1600s, yet little had changed in how it’s kept cold.
“Sparkling wines like Champagne and Prosecco are particularly sensitive to temperature and experts recommend serving them between 6°C and 10°C,” he says.
“Our Champagne cooler maintains that ideal range for up to six hours without ice, and features the patent-pending BubbleLock Bottle Stopper, which slows the loss of bubbles. We believe it’s a world-first feature.”
Huesser says their journey began by recognising a gap in the market for a universal solution.
“US beer cans are 355ml, Australia’s are 375ml and New Zealand’s are mostly 330ml. There was no one-size-fits-all, so we literally collected bottles and cans from recycling bins to get the sizing right.”
After building a following with its beer cooler, customer demand pushed the team to develop solutions for wine and sparkling. “Designing for sparkling wine came with new challenges – bigger bottles, varied shapes, and the need for something that matched the sense of occasion,” he says.
The result was a vacuum-insulated stainless steel cooler with a built-in, removable stopper.
“It’s not complicated, but it’s thoughtful,” says Huesser. “And because the stopper lives in the base, it’s always on hand – not lost in a drawer.”
The design won international acclaim, securing a 2025 Red Dot Design Award. “It puts us in the company of Apple, Dyson and Ferrari,” says Huesser.
“Being recognised by more than 40 international experts has been a career highlight.”
But with growth has come challenges – especially around intellectual property.
“As a design-led business, we’ve had to be proactive about IP protection from day one. We now run monthly sweeps to identify copycats and have successfully taken down hundreds of infringing listings,” Huesser says.
In one case, that vigilance led to opportunity. “We intercepted a shipment of 15,000 design-infringing coolers headed to Australia. After a conversation with the importer, it turned into a much larger legitimate order.”
Huski’s go-to-market strategy leans heavily on direct-to-consumer sales. “We typically enter new markets through Amazon, then expand through e-commerce, retail partners and loyalty programmes,” says Huesser. That model has seen sales double in the UK and Australia in the past year.
From a farm shed prototype to more than 1.5 million products sold worldwide, Huski’s growth has been rapid.
“More than three-quarters of our business now comes from overseas,” Huesser says. “And that growth shows no signs of slowing.”
Source: https://exportertoday.co.nz/
