Angie and Shone. Photo credit Maddie Brown, Zoe Thomas and Longing for Land

TWO cattle producing sisters from North West Queensland are taking the challenge of protecting rural women from skin cancer into their own hands – and they’re doing it in style.

The dangers of skin cancer hit home for fifth-generation beef producers Angie Nisbet and Shona Larkin in 2016 when Shona had a stage two melanoma removed.

Then when a close friend passed away in 2019 due to complications with skin cancer, the sisters felt compelled to do what they could to raise awareness and help reduce the risk.

“We wanted to create something that would provide excellent sun protection for women right across Australia and particularly focusing on rural women,” Shona explained.

Angie said that even when rural women were concerned about a spot on their skin, a 1000 kilometre round-trip to see a specialist often meant it was all too easy to put it to the back of their “to-do list”.

“We thought if we can somehow bridge that gap in and get people more aware about sun protection in rural areas then maybe that might lower the percentage.”

The girls thought that developing a line of gloves for women working out doors could offer a solution, while also bringing some designer flair to the paddock.

Despite their remote location they searched for a manufacturer and ultimately found one in China who has been “fantastic to work with”.

“They’re quite people pleasers so they want to make sure that the products are really great,” Angie said.

The result has been the creation of their line of “funky” UPF50+ FarmHER Hands sun protection gloves designed in a wide array of styles and reinforced with PVC and leather to ensure maximum safety.

The gloves are also fingerless – “for someone like me who rides horses I need to make sure I can feel the reins in my hands,” Angie said.

They are extended to cover the wrist, and include pull tabs and Velcro fastening.

Bringing some glamour to the grazing paddocks was one thing, but it was imperative that the sun-safe gloves could also stand up to the rigours of rural life and hard work.

“We literally put them to the test. We got out in the paddock and we threw them on and made sure that they were durable and that they were going to last.”

Even their husbands helped to give the gloves a rigorous workout by wearing them for jobs like  dehorning and were happy to report they passed the test.

The paddock tests gave the girls the confidence to “pull the trigger” and order their first commercial shipment, which arrived in December.

The response has been overwhelming. “We were just getting so many comments and people saying “oh, where did you get your gloves from?”’, Angie said.

“[A lady] over in Western Australia said to me ‘my hands have caught the brunt of it, 20-30 years ago something like this on the market would have been an absolute game changer’”.

They now have a goal to sell 8000 pairs of gloves by 2026.

They would love to see a large pastoral company offer the product as part of their safety program for staff.

And in a brand new development the budding entrepreneurs have told Beef Central that they have also placed their first order for a men’s line.

“We’re in partnership together, so we definitely have some background there, even with things like bookkeeping and zero has been an advantage for our little business,” Shona said.

“We have a lot of repeat customers by our website, and a lot of people have been gifting them saying “we’ve got a pair of these, I’m going to gift this to my friend for her birthday.”

‘[We’re] fifth generation farmers and we know what it takes and we would just have loved to have had this when we were a bit younger,’ they said.

For more information and access to buy the gloves click here.