CHUTE 9 jeans' Claudia Fox turns passion into a career

This inequity is what Dalby entrepreneur Claudia Fox set out to fix when she launched Australian-made CHUTE 9 jeans.

"I love a good pair of jeans and I couldn't find any for years, and there were a lot of people who also felt the same way," Ms Fox said.

"I can't speak for other countries, but I know in Australia, there's plenty of women out there wearing men's jeans."

After selling her first pair in 2020, thousands of women from boardrooms to cattle stations across the country are now donning a pair.

"I'm pretty happy with where it's at considering I don't really push it much in terms of marketing. I haven't really needed to yet," she said.

"I think part of that is that I worked in a lot of different places and know a lot of people across Australia, which helps to spread the word."

Ms Fox has enjoyed her time working on cattle stations across the country, but with business booming, she decided to set down roots in Dalby a year ago.

She now focuses most of her time on the business and has a casual job riding horses for a stock horse breeder.

"If I could get restocked when I wanted it would be full time easily, but getting set up right does take time and so I still maintain my casual job on the side, which I like because I get to keep working with horses and cattle and be outside."

Her next move will be updating her marketing and website and testing out new markets.

"I've got a few more styles coming along and I'm trying out a men's style and a kid's jean."

The core of the CHUTE 9 business is based around a boot cut fit - something understated which can transition from the paddock to the pub.

"They're not a flare or they're not trying to be a new fashion trend by any means. If anything, it's trying to just take away all the synthetic fibres. It just goes back to a bootcut pair of jeans that people can wear to work," she said.

"There's plenty of curvy people that jump in them and they find them very comfortable as well. I think that just comes down to pattern design and knowing how to fit a woman's body.

"They're for riding and work, and because they're 100pc cotton, they breathe while you're out in the humidity or you're sweating or it's dusty. They're just a lot more comfortable on your skin and they don't have any excess decorations on them.

"Women can throw their own shirts or scarves or jewellery on and the jeans are an understated part of their outfit if they are wearing them to the pub or out camp drafting. They're not there to be loud.

"It just comes back to that old fashioned good quality. I'm sure people still have shirts or jeans in their wardrobes from 20 years ago that they wish were still made like that."

While she wanted to keep the whole process in Australia, the country's last denim mill - Bradmill denim factory in Yarraville, Melbourne - sent production overseas in 2007.

The next best thing was importing raw denim from Turkey and then working with a Melbourne pattern designer and manufacturer. The product is then sent to her and she handles rolling, packing and postage, along with customer service.

"Some labels pay someone to pick their fabric and line up the manufacturer, whereas I talk directly with everyone. It's a lot of fun and you learn a lot more about what you're doing," Ms Fox said.

"There was an obvious demand there, but it was going to be a big thing to tackle and I was like, 'if all else fails and it doesn't go ahead, at least I would have learned a lot from it'."

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