One coal miner was told he would no longer have a steady income of 17 years in less than 3 years. Craig Holzigal was faced with the challenge of looking for a new career, but he and his brother, Matt Holzigal, suddenly had a bright idea that they hope will become successful as their sole focus.
The duo created Smashing Fibres, a men’s gym and streetwear apparel label, which will be soon launch on Jan. 5th, three years after Craig Holzigal received the unfortunate news. Holzigal commented:
“It was a big, big shock and I still have moments where I struggle to fathom (what happened). I was there for 17 years, not just 2, so it wasn’t an easy transition. Going from a secure income that you know will stop is hard. But going down this road is exciting.”
The duo considered several business ideas before they decided to settle on a clothing brand, which they say can fill a void in the market. The past 12 months the brothers have consistently been designing, planning, testing and setting up their business.
“We’d always spoken about doing something together for years, we just didn’t know what,” Matt said.
“And we ended up doing research without knowing it. We’d look at what males were wearing in the gym and it was either high-vis stuff straight from work or not knowing what to wear.
“The women’s range is massive, but males all over the shop,” he said.
The name of their brand is rooted in their youth when they would say, “let’s go smash some fibres,” which is equivalent to saying let’s hit the gym or pump some iron.
“We were very picky with how we wanted the product to feel and we sent a fair few products back,” Matt said.
Now seven products including tees, singlets and shorts will be available to the public on Jan. 5, and the brothers say the products are easily worn in the gym or even on a casual day going to a coffee shop.
“It gives guys a versatile product that will last. It is a nice clean design that you could throw on with a pair of jeans and wear to the pub,” according to Matt.
