Sustainable Activewear With CEACEA

Tell us about CEACEA! - What is your mission?

CEACEA is for adventure girls. Weekend adventurers, part-time adventurers & soon to be adventurers :) Our mission is to make activewear snd swimwear that inspires women to be active. CEACEA provides the perfect Activewear & Swimwear for you to have your adventures in. Moving to Perth from the UK I wanted to make some new friends and embrace the Australian Culture. So I signed up to do the Bronze Medallion course (which most Australians do) lifesaving course. I also started running, doing yoga and learning to surf.

 

It was around this time that I realised how much activewear and swimwear I was buying for all of these different sports. It was ridiculous!! I also realised if I was doing that then so were other people and that was just not a sustainable way of shopping. In Perth, I can’t remember how many times I would hear people say after a beach walk or seaside coffee I wish I brought my swimmers with me….and they would miss the opportunity to get in the ocean as they didn’t have the right activewear on. Coastal living required outfits that would allow this and that’s when the idea came to me. 

 

I started searching for leggings or shorts you could wear for a yoga session and then use to surf in. Or a sports bra that you could run in but also ocean swim in and I just couldn’t find it. Or even leggings that when you walked the dog along the sea you didn’t mind if they got wet! 

 

So like many brands, CEACEA was created because I couldn’t find what I needed.

 

I started doing lots of research. Talking to other people who had launched businesses, doing online business courses etc. That led me to contact manufacturers and discuss fabrics that could hold up to the demands of land and sea sports and that’s where a special blend of fabric was created which is salt resistant, chlorine resistant and has UPF50+ sun protection. 

 

We now make apparel for adventure girls and provide our growing CEACEA community with apparel as pretty as it is functional. For swim, surf, yoga and everything in between.

 

  

We have created a multi-use capsule wardrobe for land and sea sports. Use it for surfing, swimming, beach hangs, yoga, running or walks. EVERYTHING can be used in the water as well as on land. Take our leggings and shorts for a run or yoga session then dive straight in for a dip or surf. You can Mix & Match pieces from our capsule collections for all your adventure needs. 

 

 - UPF50+ Sun Protection

- Chlorine Resistance

- Light Weight

- Fast Drying

 - We purchase prints & artwork from independent artists.

 

 

 To encourage all women to be Adventure Girls. Get out of their comfort zone and try something new. You don’t have to climb mountains just get into the great outdoors. Go for a dip, book a SUP lesson, and join a surfing mum's group. Have an adventure.

 

1. We minimise our footprint in production by using sublimation printing. This is one of the most ethical ways to print as it doesn’t use water and therefore doesn’t contaminate any water sources or wastewater.

 

Any fabric cut-offs have before been used to make scrunchies but due to COVID, we have made 1000s of care masks to help keep people safe. Most have these have been posted to Victoria and the funds from these have been sent to Action Aid.

  

 

We have supported Action Aid Australia since the beginning and give a monthly donation (per item sold) to this charity. They fight for gender equality and social justice for women locally and internationally. As mentioned the profits for our recent mask sales have gone to them on top of our usual donations. 

 

 

3. We are ethically made - our manufacturers are certified as ethical manufacturers meaning they follow fair work practices re salary, health & safety and working hours. 

 

 

4. The fabric we use is specially sourced and is an elastane and nylon blend. We have a unique combination of the two as the big difference with CEACEA is that the fabric performs in and out of the water. 

 

This means it needs to be extra durable plus it has UV protection and chlorine resistance. Our ethos behind this is rather than buying lots of different outfits i.e. different leggings for running, for yoga, for surfing you can instead buy one pair which can be used for all. 

 

We are trying to prevent fast fashion as with CEACEA you can make capsule wardrobes and mix and match our items for all the different activities you want to do.  We are also a boutique brand so we have negotiated low MOQs to once again minimise waste.

  

5. We don’t use any single-use plastic - All postage bags, packaging, labels, marketing is either biodegradable or made from recycled card. Also when we receive our swimwear from the manufacturer they are packed without the individual bags that many brands receive them in. This alone saves 1000s of single-use bags being used.  

 We support communities that align with CEACEA like Surfing Mums. We have partnered with Surfing Mums. Surfing Mums was founded in 2008 in Byron Bay by two mums, who wanted to get back into the water but didn't have childcare - they began taking turns, tag-teaming surfing the waves while minding each others' kids on the shore. It's since evolved into 40 Surfing Mums groups across Australia - the Perth chapter is one of the most active ones.  CEACEA offers all members discounts.

 

 

I spent a lot of time finding the right manufacturer that followed health and safety and fair working right principles. You don’t have to neglect these principles to make a profit. Our customers value CEACEA because we follow these principles. They would not buy from us if we didn’t. Most people want to know how their products are made these days.

 

We also support ActionAid Australia with every sale - they fight for women's rights and gender equality locally and internationally. We also don’t use single-use plastic plus we make masks and scrunchies from our leftover fabric.

 

 

 

 

Packaging is a big one for us with our orders. We don't use single-use plastic. So when we pack our orders they come in a reusable tote bag in biodegradable mailers. We have small collections. We order small units so we don't have waste plus we believe in slow fashion so only release collections 2-3 times a year. All our stock is packed together not individually wrapped in plastic packaging. This alone saves hundreds of plastic bags from being wasted.

 

I spent a lot of time finding the right manufacturer that followed health and safety and fair working right principles. You don’t have to neglect these principles to make a profit. Our customers value CEACEA because we follow these principles. They would not buy from us if we didn’t. Most people want to know how their products are made these days.

 

We also support ActionAid Australia with every sale - they fight for women's rights and gender equality locally and internationally.

The whole concept of CEACEA is to be more sustainable -  you can use your outfits for multiple sports, which means you don't need to buy/don't consume as much clothing. You can go straight from a run to surf or swim. You can buy less but buy better by wearing CEACEA for all your adventure needs.

 

A big change for CEACEA this year has been juggling first year of having a baby and running a biz. How do you balance running a successful business with raising your 1-year-old daughter Clover?

 

It’s been a hard juggle.  We don’t have grandparents in Australia so it’s still something I’m working out. There was a feeling of guilt that when I was working I should be spending time with Clover and vice versa. I spoke to other working mums about how they juggle both.

 

The best thing I did was allocate set times for working on CEACEA so I wasn’t constantly worrying about when I was going to get something done. That way, I could enjoy my time with Clover without thinking about work. Now Clover is 1 I have put her in daycare two days a week which she loves and gives me set times to concentrate on work. There’s still a lot of writing emails and working whilst she’s napping and late at night but it’s a lot better than it was before. I think this will always be a juggle as it is for every mum. I’m also very lucky that I have a supportive partner so he will take on extra parenting jobs when I have a busy week with the CEACEA.