oing overseas? I think that’s one element of it,” he said.  “But there’s also the fact that for the younger generation, it’s actually cool now to wear an Akubra Hat with a pair of R.M. Williams boots on Manly Beach.”  Heritage brands, which are often associated with product quality and longevity and local manufacturing, may be gaining traction with younger consumers who care about the ethical and environmental impact of the products they buy.  “It’s slow fashion,” Angus said. “We’re not an ‘in it today, gone tomorrow’ type of brand. We’re 145 years strong.” According to Business Australia, there’s been a wave of support for locally made products over the last 12 months.  “The uncertainty created around international and domestic border closures and the ongoing global supply chain issues has driven an increased interest from consumers on supporting local producers and manufacturers,” Kelly Armstrong, Business Australia’s senior manager of strategic advisory consulting services, said.  “It’s really easy to make a conscious decision to support Australian-made now.” New research from Roy Morgan backs this up, with 93 per cent of shoppers saying they were more likely to buy products made in Australia than from overseas, up from 87 per cent a year earlier.  Modernising a heritage brand Akubra Hats have been synonymous with Australia since the 1980s, when The Man from Snowy River and Crocodile Dundee popularised the iconic style well beyond the bush.  “It was at that point that we had a huge spike in sales and started growing quite rapidly,” Angus said.  “That was the dawn of famous people – Olympians, prime ministers and even people from the [British] royal family – wearing Akubra Hats.” But fast forward several decades, and the brand was in need of a shakeup. Before Angus was brought on board in 2015, the family business didn’t have anyone focused specifically on sales and marketing, and it lacked an e-commerce site and social media presence.  Six years later, he has helped the brand get up to speed on digital and tap into new sales channels and markets. “We now have over 100,000 followers on Instagram, over 50,000 followers on Facebook, an active website, a really engaged sales team, two retail stores that we own in Australia and we export to different countries around the world,” Angus said.  Under his direction, Akubra has also entered the surf category. “Before I joined the business, a rural brand like Akubra would never even think to be in a surf shop,” Angus said. But as he pointed out, there are few places where people are exposed to harsher sun than the beach, and Akubra Hats are UPS 50+ rated. Angus is constantly thinking about how to grow the brand’s reach without losing its core DNA. “I’m very protective of the heritage of our brand because, for me, that is what makes us,” he said. “We have to forever evolve and make sure we’re modern enough to attract new people to the brand, but not forget those great people who have worn our product for over 100 years.” Today, the brand is stocked in about 800 bricks-and-mortar stores nationally.  From the Spanish Flu to Covid-19 Like many fashion brands, Akubra was hit hard by the change in consumer behaviour during Covid-19. Unlike most businesses, however, it had the luxury of being able to see how the brand responded during the last global pandemic in 1918.  “No one was put off from their work back then. They all took a 10 per cent pay cut to keep everyone in a job,” Angus said. The business took a similar tack last year. With sales down 40 per cent during the initial Covid lockdown, it scaled back to a 3.5-day workweek, but kept everyone employed.  One customer that wasn’t impacted by the pandemic was the Australian Army. Akubra has been making its Slouch Hats since World War I, and continued to do so through 2020.