A throwaway line caused two outback Queensland sisters to create a business selling sun-protective gloves.
To paraphrase the Nobel Prize-winning Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, some people see things as they are and ask “why?”, while others dream things that never were and ask “why not?”. Sisters Angie Nesbit and Shona Larkin are a classic case of “why-nots”. Catching up over coffee after a morning’s work in the paddocks, Shona commented how great it would be if the gloves they wore for both skin and sun protection were more stylish. Angie’s off -the-cuff response — “we should make our own” — was the genesis of FarmHer Hands, a bush-based business selling gloves that don’t just protect against the sun, bumps and scratches, they also come in a range of fashion-forward colours and prints.
“Gloves are essential for most station work,” Angie says. “I think we were using fi shing gloves at the time. So, when Shona started the conversation, it seemed pretty obvious that it wouldn’t be hard to improve on what we were currently using.”
Angie, Shona and their sister Sasha spent their early days on a cattle station in the Prairie district of north-western Queensland and moved 80km south of Hughenden when their parents bought Kentle Downs in 1995. Their early schooling was via Charters Towers School of Distance Education but, following the move, they were able to attend the tiny one-teacher Cameron Downs primary school. “Shona and I used to ride the 20km each way on a four-wheeler,” Angie says. “Like most bush kids, we were given a lot of responsibility from a young age. We went to boarding school in Toowoomba for high school.”
Shona went on to study teaching and, after a nomadic period working on stations, Angie became a beauty therapist. Sasha is an events manager living in Brisbane. Their parents bought Landsborough Downs next door to Kentle in 2005, which is where Angie and her husband, Sam, who also runs an electrical business in Longreach, now live. Shona and her husband, Steven “Larko”, took over running Kentle. “We’re lucky that our parents always did things differently,” Shona says. “They were cell grazing long before anyone had ever heard of regenerative ag. They also recognised the importance of succession planning, which has allowed us to continue to live on the land.”
The Larkin children — Hunter, aged 13, Torah, 12, Will, 10, and Ned, 6 — and the Nesbits’ kids — Hugo, 7, Tilli, 6, and Elka, 4 — now have the freedoms and responsibilities their mothers enjoyed as children. They include the privilege of learning at home via distance ed, though boarding school is an inevitability when they enter high school.
FarmHer Hands gloves are fingerless, to make them mobile-phone friendly, and helpful for tasks such as using a scalpel or other tools and holding the reins when horse riding. They are also reinforced on the underside to provide extra protection for jobs such as fencing, working with sharp tools and even dealing with spiky plants in the garden. They’re made from lightweight, stretchy, durable and fast-drying fabric that’s similar to the material used for swimming rashies. Most importantly, the fabric has a UPF (ultraviolet protection factor) of 50, which means that only one out of 50 (two per cent) of the sun’s rays can penetrate. “In other words, that means it blocks 98 per cent of radiation,” Shona explains. “The standards are regulated by the Australian government and the fabric has to be tested every year to ensure the claim remains accurate.”
UPF is a particular concern for many people living in the bush, as working outdoors means constant exposure to the sun’s harsh rays. In Shona’s case, this fact is personally significant as, in 2016, she was diagnosed with stage II melanoma, the most dangerous of skin cancers. “It was pretty frightening at the time,” she recalls. “I was still breastfeeding Will and had to go to Townsville [five hours away by road] for surgery and treatment. Fortunately, it was successful, but our family has had a heightened awareness of the risks and need for protection ever since.”
Australia has the dubious distinction of having the world’s highest rate of melanoma and it’s the third-most commonly diagnosed cancer in this country. It’s estimated that almost 17,000 people will be diagnosed this year and 1300 of them will die as a result of the disease. The only good news in this rather bleak scenario is that screening is available and, if caught early, 90 per cent of melanomas can be cured by surgery.
Protection is a key factor in prevention, particularly for people who spend a lot of time in the sun. Wearing sunscreen, hats, protective clothing and gloves are important precautions against sun damage. Angie and Shona say they were greatly helped in their start-up by Jile Brown, another outback Queensland resident and friend, who launched a sunsafe swimwear label, Coola Cozzies, from her on-station home near Ilfracombe a decade ago. “Julie was generous in sharing tips and advice,” Angie says. “With a lot of Google searching, we were able to find a company in China to manufacture to our specifications.”
FarmHer Hands launched online just in time for Christmas 2023 and the sisters say they were overwhelmed by the response. “It was immediately obvious we’d found a gap in the market,” Angie says. “We’ve been blown away by the response and the lovely feedback. We set out to solve a personal need and hopefully create a bit of off -farm income to pay boarding school fees and maybe build a swimming pool, but we’ve moved beyond that.”
“It’s been DIY all the way,” Shona adds. “From building the website to social marketing, packing and distribution, we’ve been handson and learning as we go. There’s still more to learn and so much room for growth. Our current goal is to glove-up 16,000 pairs of hands by 2026 and to develop more corporate clients. It would be great if ag companies included our gloves as part of uniform. The most important thing, though, is to keep getting the word out about melanoma and the importance of always staying sunsafe, particularly in rural Australia.”
