Family driven quality products at Shade ‘n’ Sails

With more than 20 years in the industry providing customised shade solutions, Shade ‘n’ Sails has been successfully designing, manufacturing, supplying, and installing quality outdoor shade products throughout Victoria and across the world.

Featuring a product range that includes Ziptrak® Blinds, Sunblinds, Cafe Blinds, Shade Sails, Shade Structures, Umbrellas and more, Shade ‘n’ Sails caters for the residential, educational, and commercial sectors providing clients with both shade and waterproof options.

In 1999 company directors Neil Glover and Trevor Hocking took a huge risk leaving steady jobs to follow their vision and create a business they could call their own. Neither had a business degree, however relied on a common-sense approach and strong work ethic to build a successful company.

Initially focusing on shade sails, the business branched out to also manufacture outdoor blinds and awnings within a few years due to continuous customer requests for these products.

Many achievements have been made along the way, from the first overseas customer, to continually expanding both local and international retailers of the products, and the natural growth has allowed Shade ‘n’ Sails to increasingly employ additional staff.

Growing to its current staff of 25, the low staff turnover across the years has had a positive impact on the business, there is a committed team of people working together to develop the business and achieve the desired results for the customers.

Staff training and continual skill development work is carried out to maintain a high level of quality and experience across all areas, which is important to both directors.

Shade ‘n’ Sails is a family orientated business with Neil’s daughters Kirsten and Brittney as floor manager and accounts manager, while son-in-law Daniel works within the manufacturing department. Trevor’s brother Murray is the sales manager and sister-in-law Jo is the office manager.

Continual growth in the family-owned and operated business has seen the need for four progressively larger premises to accommodate the increasing workload and staffing requirements.

Shade ‘n’ Sails made the move into a state-of-the-art, purpose-built manufacturing plant, office, and showroom space. This move has provided the team with over double the capacity and an increased capability to take on larger and more complex projects.

Since Shade ‘N’ Sails began, technical advancements have greatly increased the company’s capabilities.

There are computerised plotting and cutting machines to make processes more efficient and less time consuming, an increase in the range of fabrics, an emphasis on end-of-life recycling, laser technology that assists with the marking out of shade sails, and greater options to fully
customise products for each individual need.

Both Trevor and Neil look forward to Shade ‘n’ Sails continuing to offer that ‘old fashioned’ service they are renowned for and ensuring the high-quality products meet their customer’s individual needs.