Australian Made and Proud!

In a time where most Australian companies are manufacturing offshore to increase profit margins or just to stay competitive, it’s difficult to find Australian made products.

Sustainababy is constantly on the lookout for top quality eco friendly Aussie-made baby gear and are proud to stock the following local brands that manufacture their products in this fantastic country of ours: Aromababy, Belkiz, Billie Goat Soap, Left Hand Make, Little Extensions, Little Pumpkin Organics, Little Squirt, Studio SKINKY, Twinkle Lily, Uimi and as of this week, Cheeky Chickies.

Why do we actively source Australian-made products? Because we believe the less distance products travel from their place of manufacture to you the better it is for our environment. Keeping local workers in jobs also helps to keep our economy strong.

On the eve of Australia Day, we spoke with the founders of two proud Australian brands, Little Pumpkin Organics and Cheeky Chickies, to find out what makes them tick.

Sascha Mather (co-owner and founder of Little Pumpkin Organics)

What prompted you to start Little Pumpkin Organics?
Little Pumpkin has enabled us to realise our long-standing passion to develop benefit-driven, beautiful products. We’re particularly passionate about creating high quality skincare and ointments for babies and kids, and believe that natural, wild-crafted and organic ingredients offer the best quality, in the purest form – and therefore the best outcome possible. We also wanted to embrace the challenge of bringing elegant, sophisticated artisan products to the organic market.

How do you describe your range?
Little Pumpkin has the following two premium organic, natural and wild-crafted collections made from the finest natural, wild-crafted and organic ingredients:

• Little Pumpkin Organics is a collection of eco-luxe skin care made from the finest natural ingredients and designed specifically to nurture and nourish the delicate skin of newborns.
• Little Pumpkin Organic Tonics is a suite of six purpose-specific and highly functional balms for babies and kids, that are gentle and nurturing, whilst providing relief and protection.

Designed and made in Australia, both collections are pure, organic and 100% fragrance-free and cruelty-free. Little Pumpkin actively supports fair trade operations and is committed to developing artisan creations that look, smell and feel divine.

What is your favourite Little Pumpkin product?
So hard to say (and it also changes all the time!) At the moment, I’m in love with the Calm Baby Balm. This balm has a particularly rare and exotic ingredient – wild Atlas Mountain Blue Tansy that’s sourced from a remote area of Morocco. As well as smelling beyond divine, it has renowned calming abilities.

Why did you decide to have your range made in Australia?
We’re completely meticulous about the entire design and production process and believe this would be significantly impacted if handled offshore.

What does Australia Day mean to you and how will you celebrate this year?
To us, Australia Day reinforces how absolutely privileged we are to be living in such a beautiful country of endless opportunity and choice. We’ll celebrate this year by taking the little ones to watch the yacht races on the harbour, followed by lunch with friends.

Sascha Mather and Suzannah Hogan, founders of Little Pumpkin Organics

Click here to purchase Little Pumpkin Organics

Deni Fowle (founder and owner of Cheeky Chickies)

What prompted you to start Cheeky Chickies?
I first started Cheeky Chickies as an online retail store for unique, colourful labels in August 2006 when my first born, Amalia, was four months old. I met many fantastic women though this business endeavour, and was inspired by Australian designers who also manufactured in Australia.

After the birth of my son Taelan, in August 2008, I made the decision to make a change to my business, and move away from retail. I had found myself, for some time, dreaming up my own designs, and so decided to start the research and development stages of our own clothing label. The main focus of the label was to be bright, bold colours, but I was also interested in designing a range of very comfy cotton wardrobe essentials.

At three months of age Tae was diagnosed with a rare condition called Cornelia de Lange Syndrome. Although he has some developmental delays, his condition is relatively mild and he’s doing well. His diagnosis highlighted to me how special and fragile our children are, and was even more reason for Cheeky Chickies to work with fabrics that are made from 100% certified organic cotton, grown and manufactured without the use of hazardous chemicals and pesticides that could potentially bring harm to our environment and our children. The fact that organic cotton is superior in quality to conventional cotton is an added bonus!
How do you describe Cheeky Chickies clothing?
Well, our motto is “let your light shine LOUD and stand out from the crowd!” I head out frequently with my kids to busy gatherings and can spot them among all the other children in a split second because Cheeky Chickies clothing is so bright and bold.

Why did you decide to have your range made in Australia?
It’s very important to me to manufacture in Australia – and even more so now, given our current economic climate, and how severely our retail industry has been hit.

When our clothing range is stocked in a retail store, the retailer purchases Cheeky Chickies clothing from me. That money in turn, supports the following Australian businesses:

• my pattern-maker, based in Sydney, with three children of her own
• my seamstress, based in Sydney, with two university aged kids of her own
• my fabric manufacturers, who knit our fabrics in Queensland, and also manufacture some of our garments in their Sydney factory, and custom eco-dye some of our fabrics in Melbourne.
• my graphic designer for technical drawings, based in Sydney, mum to a two year old child
• my graphic designer for advertising/marketing, based in Newcastle, mum of three children under 6 years of age
• my photographer, based in Wollongong, mum of two children under four years of age
• my printing company, based in Sydney
• my web designer/host, also based in Sydney

In short, by choosing to manufacture in Australia, I am helping to support the livelihoods of many, many Aussie families, who in turn, would also spend this money on groceries and other necessities that would continue to keep money local and stimulate our economy.

What does Australia Day mean to you and how will you celebrate this year?
Australia Day means family, freedom and fun! We are very lucky to live in a very beautiful part of the country, in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, surrounded by national parks and coastal beaches. We will spend the day setting up new bedroom furniture for the kids, have many trips across to the beach and finish off with a family barbeque.

Deni Fowle with her two chickies Amalia and Taelan

Click here to purchase Cheeky Chickies

Until 31 January 2011, save 20% on Little Pumpkin Organics and Cheeky Chickies at Sustainababy with code “AUSSIE”