Why do you make in Australia?
We ask Chief Smuggler, Linny...
"Since we started, nearly 20 years ago… every pair of Budgy Smuggler swimwear has been proudly made in Sydney, Australia.
It’s made in the same factory of some great Australian brands before us like Jets, Zimmerman and of course Speedo itself. Most or all of those brands have shipped offshore chasing higher margins, lower environmental standards and leaving our home industry behind.
People often ask why we also don’t move to a cheaper manufacturing base… they ask If you can save $5-10 a pair and you make half a million garments… couldn’t you make $5M more? In our mind, that’s not how it works.
There’s two things that are crucial in our minds at Budgy Smuggler. The first is quality and the second is the feeling you get when you put on a pair of smugglers."
For almost 20 years, every pair of Budgy Smuggler swimwear has been proudly made in Sydney, Australia.
"On the quality front, it’s hard to beat being able to track your production through every step. We want it to be quality you can be proud of and that people in our home country, Australia, are proud of.
The second is the feeling that you have when you put on a pair of Smugglers. We want you to literally feel like you’re putting on a piece of Australia, to a brand that cares about its home country, about its manufacturing eco system and that doesn’t want to mass produce like pretty much everyone else.
It’s also the right call for the environment.
While it’s true we could save $5-10 a pair if we made overseas, nearly ⅓ of what’s made overseas ends up in land fill or discounted to below cost… so what’s the true cost?
And lastly, there’s something we really love about seeing our swimwear being crafted. Our factory is still run by the Master Maker Arnold who is almost 90 years old. He and his wife Mila package the vast bulk of smugglers to this day.
He’s got no plans of stopping any time soon and neither do we".
