Possum Pam was set up in the early 1980's by Pam and Dave McKinstry.
Around this time Pam acquired a specialised fur sewing machine and began making possum fur hats to her own designs. Overtime fresh products were developed and Pam became a legend traveling the South Island in her 1946 Dodge bus exhibiting and selling her unique designs.
A growing mountain of possum fur off cuts and a brainwave one early morning gave Pam the idea of making her famous nipple warmers. A novelty item that tickled the fancy of the media and thousands of shoppers. Pam describes herself as a 'guardian of New Zealand conservation' concerned the possum plague is destroying the native flora and fauna and wryly commenting "There would have to be a lot of cold nipples out there to stem this tide of destruction".
Dave Mckinstry has a lifetime of experience in the back country and hunted the brushtail possum since childhood. In the early seventies he bought a fur machine and made Possum fur jackets for his friends. After taking a break at pioneering deer farming and meeting his wife Pam they moved to Queenstown where Pam got serious about manufacturing possum fur products.
In the early 80's they moved again to the beautiful Maruia Valley where Possum Pam continued to thrive as more products came on stream. The cold winters in the Maruia Valley soon gave Pam the idea of possum fur shoe insoles. They realised the unique properties of the possum insoles was the elimination of foot odour. This led to tests by LASRA (Leather and Shoe Research Association of New Zealand) which to their amazement showed that the possum insoles were superior to the charcoal activated type of insole.
In late 2004 Pam and Dave decied that the time was right to hand the business over to someone that could continue their great work. This was when Russell and Sue Dalzell came on the scene and shifted the business to their home in sunny Dunsandel, just south of Christchurch. They had an existing sheepskin business and could see the benefits of the two businesses combining.
Russell and Sue are both from a rural background and have extensive knowledge in the manufacture of sheepskin products
