Broulee’s Ewan McAsh honoured in Outback fashion labels new collection of shirts

Ewan McAsh, founder of SmartOysters, is among the list of inspirational Australians Antola Trading has honoured in its latest collection of shirts.

Owned and designed in Outback Australia, Antola Trading has designed 23 new men’s, women’s and kids work shirts as part of its latest collection. Each design is named after someone handpicked by founder Alicia McClymont, who she believes is having a diverse impact on regional and rural Australia through the local community or at the highest level of the Agricultural industry.

Alicia said they are "thrilled to have connected with Ewan, to share his story of resilience and dedication.”

With a degree in marine biology and a love of surfing the South Coast, Ewan McAsh is transforming the Australian oyster industry from product to plate.

Ewan was 24 and fresh out of university when his dad, previously a commercial fisherman and looking to leave his office job, proposed buying an oyster farm together.

Throughout Antola Trading’s Shirt Story honouring Ewan, he speaks of upgrading the family farm and building better software tools to run the farm more efficiently. Within ten years he had restructured his own production process and the wider oyster market, but not without a personal cost.

“I’d often look at my friends who work in the city or doing fly-in, fly-out mining making great money and here I was feeling like I was losing the family inheritance in an oyster farm.”

“I’d say to Dad ‘Why don't we just stop? What are we doing?’, but he always had this sort of resilience and confidence in what we were doing.”

Nearly twenty years on, the risks undergone by Ewan and his father have been rewarded. Today, Ewan not only runs the McAsh oyster farm and Signature Oysters, the business he uses to sell directly to consumers, but he has co-founded two more businesses; consultancy service Oyster Life and SmartOyster, dedicated to moving farm data collections online.

Ewan said he is excited to be part of the line-up of men and women who have inspired Antola Trading’s latest collection.

“I was really pleased and honoured that Antola Trading were interested in my story and naming a shirt after me.”

“The shirts are great. I’m more in the office these days so it's good to have a nicer looking shirt, not just your plain old cotton shirt,” Ewan said.

Above: Antola Trading Shirt Ambassador Ewan McAsh in his “Ewan” Shirt

To celebrate the incredible people involved in the new campaign, Antola Trading has partnered with Humans of Agriculture (HoA) to share each shirt story in a series of podcast episodes.

“We think everyone has a good story to tell, and that’s especially true in the country! So, we are incredibly excited to be partnering with Humans of Agriculture to bring each of our amazing ambassador stories to people’s ears for the first time. Over 20 episodes there will be diverse stories of resilience, adventure, innovation, and a few life lessons. Our hope is that you’ll be reminded of these stories and be proud of the inspiring community you’re part of every time you pull your Antola work shirt on,” Alicia said.

Humans of Agriculture is on a journey to share 10,000 stories that celebrate the incredible people involved in regional Australia communities.

Founder of HoA Oli Le Lievre said "It was really obvious once Alicia and I started talking just how passionate each of us is about regional Australia and the people within it. Seeing the ambassadors that are part of Antola Trading is incredible. It's a privilege to get a front-row seat with each of them to share their story. I can't wait for you to begin listening in and joining in on the conversation and celebrating the diversity of our industry and the opportunities it presents."

“We are so proud to share these stories, as well as to be a part of such a vibrant and ambitious community of regional Australians,” Alicia said.

To listen to Ewan’s Shirt Story podcast episode, visit www.antolatrading.com/blogs/shirt-stories