What a story. A wonderful Australian story about a woman from outback Qld who couldn't find colourful sun protective swimwear for her family, including larger sizes for her mum. Then a soul sucking drought deepened and that was it! She started making them. Not bathers but the outerwear like rashies, boardies, swimshorts and tops.
Julie, being the enterprising country girl that she is started Coola Cozzies. I found Coola Cozzies when searching for rashies to sell at Sequins and Sand in sizes above a 22 and not black. The women of Brisbane were coming in to our Ashgrove studio looking for swim tops and rashies that you pull over your head too. And shorts that would cover up the tops of their legs and offer more sun protection when out on the boat and around the pool.
Lifestyle driven needs, just like Julie's.
The story gets better. Julie isn't based in a big city or by the beach. Coola Cozzies is based in the Qld outback! Ilfracombe is about 1150kms NW of Brisbane; its closest 'big town' is Longreach, 30kms away. Now that's a long trip to the Post Office!
"The initial Coola Cozzies idea seeded ten years ago when we couldn't find quality board shorts and rashies/sun shirts as Christmas presents for our fair skinned family." Says Julie.
All of us at Coola Cozzies have had basal cell carcinomas(BCC's) removed, and we have lost a dear friend to melanoma. Being SunSmart is a priority for us and we want to help spread the SunSmart message. Our Coola Cozzies rashies and sun shirts are approved UPF50+ by ARPANSA, providing excellent protection."
Coola Cozzies have been designed in bright colours and a comfortable fit, because they are Cozzies we want to wear. We want people of all ages, sizes and skin types to be able to enjoy the benefits of water with confidence."
And the tipping point came when the drought hit hard. The Queensland drought that began in 2013 and is still raging (with 80% of Qld still drought declared) with no rain, no grass and no stock on their Outback Queensland property sending them a little Julie's family channeled all that crazy into making their dream a reality. It pushed Julie and her family to 'just have a go' and establish their on-line swimwear business.
And they pledge five percent of all Coola Cozzies profits to the Western Queensland Drought Appeal, helping Outback communities.
What a bloody great story!
So Coola Cozzies and Sequins and Sand has teamed up to bring you something different to add to your Sun Protection arsenal. To give it a go! We are going to operate a bit differently though simply because of the distance these goodies have to travel and to keep costs down. S&S will send your orders to Coola Cozzies who will send them directly to you. The same returns policies of S&S will apply and together, the S&S and Coola Cozzies teams will look after you. We will learn as we go. This arrangement is new for both of us but we felt we just had to make a start, fine tune as we go and get them out there to you!
Summer is set to be yet another long hot scorcher and we hope that this fabulous outback Queensland range of sun protection swimwear will help you to enjoy yours even more.
What to know more about Coola Cozzies? Take a look at the vid below!
Anita
xx
