MENTION the surname ‘McClymont’ and you’re likely to stir images of Queensland beef barons; the successful cattlemen who’ve grown empires in the state’s north-west.
But now there’s a new label that can be added to the family name – a fashion one.
‘Antola Trading’ is an outdoor workwear brand, designed specifically for women, launched in September this year by Alicia McClymont.
For the past year Miss McClymont has been intensively collaborating with textile designers, clothing manufacturers and more recently happy shoppers – all between working cattle at one of the family’s properties, Molesworth, west of Richmond.
Her first line, a spring/summer range titled ‘Bloom Where You Are Planted’, is focussed on celebrating an individual’s character.
“One of my biggest goals was to keep the prices affordable enough that you could wear them every day and inject a bit of fun and personality into them,” she said.
“You can put on something that reflects your personality, I guess, rather than just put on a plain green, pink or blue shirt.”
The name Antola Trading came about by combining the first names of Miss McClymont’s mother, Antonia, and grandmother, Nola, who the entrepreneur describes as “the two most stylishly influential women in my life”.
Looking to the future, Miss McClymont said she ideally wants to work with groups that support women who work in male-dominated fields, such as the cattle industry.
“It’s really hard to change people’s ideas of who can be leaders in those industries,” she said.
“I would like to think eventually giving women other options that are specifically for them, working in outdoor industries that they haven’t had before, is recognising that women have a bigger part in these primary industries in Australia and they should be recognised as important people in the industry.”
Despite this, Miss McClymont said she didn’t have plans to return to her roots after finishing her final seven years of school at Cairns.
“When I finished school I actually thought there was no way I could move home. I thought it was too isolated,” she said.
Having been always interested in fashion she instead opted to pursue the industry for the two years following high school, before returning to life on the land.
“It was a natural development, I guess, to incorporate it into my life out here,” Miss McClymont said.
- Visit www.antolatrading.com