OMG… we're starting a blog!! 🥹
If there's one thing you should know about me (Mo), it's that I love a good yap. So naturally, giving myself an entire corner of the internet to tell stories felt like a pretty good idea.
If you've been around since the beginning, you might've already read the Our Story section on our website. You know, that little page most businesses have where they introduce the people behind the brand and explain why they started it in the first place.
When we launched Forby, we shared a pretty brief version of our story. The who, the what and the why. But there's actually a whole lot more to it.
And while I could tell you that Forby started because we saw a gap in the market for women's outdoor clothing (which is true), I can actually pinpoint the exact moment we decided to do something about it.
And believe it or not, it was at a little rodeo in the middle of Cape York.
But first, a little backstory…
I grew up in Far North Queensland, so getting outdoors was just part of life.
Fishing, camping, heading out bush, spending weekends on the water. It wasn't something I really thought twice about. It's just what I did.
But for years, I'd had this little frustration that kept building.
Every time I'd go fishing, I'd throw on whatever outdoor shirt I had, usually something oversized, masculine or just not particularly flattering.
And don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting to look like I'd just stepped out of a fashion shoot while holding a barra.
But I did want to feel good in what I was wearing.
I'd catch a fish, take a photo, look back at it and think, yeah nah, that's staying in the camera roll.
Not because I didn't love the memory, but because I didn't love how I looked in the clothes I was wearing.
And looking back, that actually makes me a little sad. Because those were some of my favourite memories, but I wasn't sharing them because I didn't feel confident in what I was wearing.
It sounds like such a small thing, but over time, it really started to bother me, and when Zara moved to FNQ, she immediately felt the same way too!
The rodeo that started it all
Fast-forward to a little rodeo in Cape York.
I remember being so excited because there were going to be businesses selling clothing and gear, and I LOVE supporting small businesses, especially rural ones.
But when we arrived, there were only a handful of smaller brands and one major Australian outdoor brand with a big retail trailer.
Naturally, I went straight in.
I remember walking into the women's section, pulling a pair of shorts off the rack, turning to Zara and saying…
“What the f***?”
And I mean that quite literally. 😭
They were a pair of pink footy shorts with a massive truck printed across the back.
Now, before anyone comes for me, if that's your vibe, absolutely go for it. There's a girl out there who would rock those shorts, and I love that for her.
But it definitely wasn't our vibe.
And it wasn't even just the design that got me.
The shorts looked like they'd taken a men's pair, shrunk them down, made them pink and called it a women's fit.
They literally still had the extra room in the front for balls.
Last time I checked, we don't have those. 😭
And the shirts weren't much different.
It was the same story. Men's-style designs, just smaller and pinker, with a pig here, a truck there, maybe a cow or a cute little cowgirl boot thrown in for good measure.
And look, I love a bit of country nostalgia as much as the next girl, but surely that couldn't be the extent of our options?
Because it wasn't necessarily about the pink, the trucks or even the pigs.
It was the fact that so much of the clothing felt like it had been designed for men first, with women considered afterwards.
Shrink it, pink it, chuck a truck on it. Done.
And I remember turning to Zara and saying something along the lines of:
“Nah, this is actually messed up. Why are these our options? We need to do something about this.”
And that was it. We spent the 6 hour drive home, along the Peninsula Development road, throwing around ideas.
After years of being frustrated with the options available to us, something finally clicked.
We didn't want to keep complaining about it. We wanted to create something better.
Because the Australian outdoors isn't one-size-fits-all.
Here's the thing about Australia.
We have such a unique outdoor lifestyle.
One weekend you might be fishing out on the reef, the next you're camping in the bush, chasing waterfalls, spending a day at the beach or heading out west for a weekend.
But when we started looking at women's outdoor clothing, we felt like there were two main options.
You could wear traditional fishing and work gear, which was practical but didn't always feel particularly flattering or feminine.
Or you could wear technical outdoor clothing designed for specific activities, like hiking.
And while there's absolutely a place for both, neither really captured the kind of outdoor lifestyle we lived.
We didn't always need a technical hiking shirt or a fishing jersey covered in logos.
Sometimes we just wanted a good shirt.
Something lightweight, breathable and practical enough to handle the Australian outdoors, but flattering enough that we'd actually want to wear it.
Something we could throw over our swimmers, wear fishing, take camping or chuck on for a road trip.
Functional, but still flattering.
And most importantly, designed for women from the beginning. Not just a smaller version of something made for men.
So, we started with one shirt
Now, you're probably wondering… if a pair of footy shorts sent us over the edge, why on earth didn't we start with shorts? 😭
Fair question.
But when we actually started looking into the women's outdoor clothing market in Australia, we realised there were already some brands doing a bloody good job with shorts.
There were some great designs out there, and honestly, we weren't interested in creating something just for the sake of it.
But you know what we still couldn't find?
A good women's long-sleeve outdoor shirt.
Not a technical hiking shirt. Not a fishing jersey covered in logos. And definitely not a men's shirt that had been shrunk down and made pink.
Just a genuinely flattering, functional outdoor shirt that we could throw on for pretty much any adventure.
When Zara and I started talking seriously about what Forby could become, we had SO many ideas.
And trust me, we still do. Our list of things we want to create is probably getting a little out of hand.
But we knew we had to start somewhere.
So we decided to focus on the one thing we'd spent years searching for.
The Adventure Shirt.
We spent the next year researching, designing, sampling and testing what would eventually become our very first product.
Every little detail had a reason behind it.
And we tested it in the kind of conditions we actually spend time in, including the hot, humid weather of Far North Queensland.
We weren't trying to reinvent the wheel.
We just wanted to make an outdoor shirt that women would genuinely love wearing.
Turns out, we weren't the only ones
I'll be the first to admit, starting Forby was a little scary.
Because when you've spent so long being frustrated by something, you start to wonder whether everyone else feels the same way, or whether you're just being a little dramatic. 😭
We knew what we wanted.
But would other women want it too?
Well, since launching Forby, the response has been more than we could've imagined.
We've had hundreds of women join our little community, share photos of their adventures and send us messages about how much they love their shirts.
And one of the most rewarding things has been hearing from women who tell us they've been looking for something like this for years.
Because SAME, GIRL.
That's exactly why we started.
And every time we receive a message like that, it's another little reminder that maybe we weren't so delusional after all.
There's room for something different in the Australian outdoor space.
And we're only just getting started.
A little rodeo, a big idea
So there you have it.
The real story behind Forby.
Not some big corporate lightbulb moment. Not a perfectly mapped-out business strategy.
Just two girls at a little rodeo in Cape York, looking at a pair of pink footy shorts and thinking…
Surely we can do better than this.
And that's exactly what we're trying to do.
We're still a very small business, still learning as we go and still figuring plenty of things out.
But if there's one thing we're certain of, it's that Australian women deserve more options when it comes to getting outdoors.
And we want Forby to be part of making that happen.
Thanks for being here, for supporting our little brand and for giving me somewhere to yap.
I have a feeling there'll be plenty more stories to come.
Mo 🤎
Co-Founder, Forby