C Wear protects kids worldwide

C Wear Australia Pty Ltd has made a growing niche business out of protecting children around the world from sunburn and the risk of skin cancer in later life.

Managing director Mark Glynn says, “We are one of the last garment manufacturers in Australia. We are very successful and our product is highly sought after around the world.”
C Wear is a small business based in Sydney. It manufactures sun-protective clothing in a factory at Newcastle. It specializes in sun protective swimwear for children of all ages. The children’s clothing includes a wide range of styles with matching hats, tops and shorts.
Both the C Wear swimwear and the fabric it is made from are 100 per cent Australian made.

All design, pattern making, cutting and printing is done by the company’s three fulltime employees. Additional casual staff are brought into the business in peak times. The company works closely with Hunter TAFE and provides work experience each year for a few students study Fashion and Design at TAFE. Many of these students are then employed casually during their TAFE holidays.
Mark Glynn has been operating C Wear successfully since he took the company over in 2002.

C Wear exports to distributors in the following countries: USA, Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, Japan, Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Croatia. On average the company appoints another three to four distributors each year.
The company also sells its products on the internet to customers all over the world.

Mark says, “Our turnover is growing steadily each year. In the overseas markets, the sun awareness message is spreading. Demand is growing for our Australian made C Wear Australia brand. We work closely with Austrade and have met with Austrade representatives in New York and more recently in Croatia.
“In the Australian market, where sun protective swimwear products are readily available, it is the value-for-money and price competitive features of our products that drive our growth. Our share of the local market grew 40 per cent last summer and we expect similar growth this season.

“Ours is a successful international niche business,” Mark says. “Although we do not make huge profits in such a highly competitive clothing market, we derive much satisfaction from helping to educate children and protect them from the harmful effects of solar radiation.”
With marketing campaigns directed at parents of small children through schools, preschools and sporting groups in Australia and through its web site and advertising in the mass media, C Wear is helping to educate parents and children around the world about how to enjoy the sun safely and avoid becoming prone to skin cancers.

Skin cancer has become more prevalent over the years in many countries, especially in Australia with its warm, sunny weather and many beaches and swimming pools.

The Cancer Council of NSW says one in 24 males and one in 35 females will develop melanoma by the age of 75. It says melanoma rates are significantly higher in coastal regions.

Unprotected exposure to the sun in the first 15 years of life more than doubles the chances of getting skin cancer later in life, the Cancer Council says.
Similar statistics on cancer apply to other states of Australia and other countries.

Mark says, “We make sun-protective clothing offering SPF 50-plus ultraviolet protection from the sun.
“Our C Wear range of swimwear wears well and keeps its shape and colour all summer and beyond because it is strongly stitched and made from chlorine resistant polyester fabric.

“So it keeps protecting the skin from the sun and looking smart and attractive long after ordinary fabric has stretched, torn and worn thin, lost its shape and some of its protective properties and also lost its appeal to kids to wear.”

C Wear clothing is endorsed by the Skin & Cancer Foundation of Australia.
Mark says the protective clothing comes with his company’s assurance that children wearing it with a little sun lotion on exposed skin and sunglasses when necessary, are quite safe to play in the sunshine.

“It gives them freedom to play happily and safely on beaches and at swimming pools and other outdoor locations – to avoid sunburn and enjoy activities which are vital to their health and development.

“Our clothing is designed not only to protect children but to appeal to them visually so that they are pleased to wear it.”

C Wear Australia Pty Ltd is at Unit 1/5 Metro Court, Gateshead, NSW, 2290; phone 02 4946 2344, email sales@cwear.com.au, web www.cwear.com.au .
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Photos to illustrate this story can be downloaded at http://www.wbpublicity.com.au/cwear/cw.htm .

Media contact: Mark Glynn, Manager, C Wear Australia Pty Ltd, phone 0418 219 505, 4946 2344 or 9416 7111; email mark@cwear.com.au .