A Funny Little Story

‘ello, Hello, Hi there, G’day, Hej! Hiya,

Pleased to meet you!

I’m Lisa and I’ve been introducing myself to so many new people recently that it got me thinking I really should write a blog about myself and my journey.

I’ve always been passionate about nature. I grew up in Hilton, a small rural town in Kwazulu Natal, the Midlands in South Africa. We lived an hour from the beach and coast of Durban and an hour in the opposite direction to the Drakensberg mountains. Growing up we spent winter hiking in the mountains and summer on the beach.

After leaving fashion college, I worked in a huge knitwear factory in Cape Town and then like most young people, I wanted to travel and moved to London. I worked for an investment bank and during those years, boy did I travel!!! I met my Swedish husband and after we were married, we moved to Stockholm.

Sweden cemented my love of design and children, as all 3 of our beautiful girls were welcomed to this amazing blue planet in that wintery wonderland. We moved then as a family across the world to Australia and settled into life as we now know it in Melbourne.

I began Tyoub as a life long love of stretch fabrics. I was sewing leotards for my youngest little gymnast when I decided to start a business. Being active, like most families we attended swimming lessons and I was always looking for better designs and ways to stop waste and recycle, I’ve carefully washed disposable swim nappies and dried them countless times, so I started looking at swim nappies. I pattern made countless prototypes and tested them until I was satisfied that this was the optimal solution. The secret is in the double gusset, but it must be in conjunction with an exact waist fitting, so the Velcro was the only option as children grow so rapidly and their bodies change so much from infancy to toddler.

As the business has grown so had my knowledge of textiles, and I have been blown away by the research and development into recycled synthetics. I hope that one day, those awful fossil fuel polyesters and nylons, that truly stick are no longer available in apparel, when I see the price of oil go up  I secretly wish that it would effect the price of these fabrics, (I know this is naïve).

When women refer to their business as “their baby”, I tend to agree, you worry constantly that it will survive, you nurture it and promote it, you tell people how great it is doing, even when it is struggling with it’s maths homework LOL. You have dreams that one day it will be grown and strong, making a difference in the world and doing good. And of course profitable and not asking you for pocket money!

With your support I hope to be around for many years and build a business that teaches, encourages and advocates for a healthy, active and happy life … and planet.