Zorali climbs to new heights

Encouraging everyday people to relish the benefits of being in nature is a heartfelt mission shared by husband-and-wife duo Cam and Elise Greenwood.

The Ocean Grove couple love nothing more than spending time in the great outdoors – exploring the nourishing coastline, rainforests and mountains that are within reach of their Bellarine home and beyond.

It is what bonded them on their first date on a Torquay beach five years ago and what inspired them to create Zorali – a clothing and camping start-up with the simple mission of getting people outdoors.

Established in 2019, the brand has already reached 17,500 customers from 27 countries and built a galaxy of more than 1,500 five-star reviews.

The entrepreneurial pair see Zorali as a “guide” for customers who were taking their first steps into exploring nature.

It’s not about fancy technical gear, they say, but rather about having what you need to get out amongst it.

 

 

“Elise and I really share a deep love for nature and spent our early days together outdoors just camping, surfing, hiking and exploring the beautiful coastline here that we’re so blessed to be able to enjoy,” Cam recollects.

“We’d always invite our friends for a dip in the ocean, even in winter, or walks along the coastline and camping trips.

“That was where the foundations for Zorali began – just sharing the love of nature that we have with our friends.

“We had a desire to do that on a larger scale and combine our creative talents to build a brand around it.”

The word Zorali is a combination of the Persian word for “fearless”, Zoran, with an African word meaning “full of life”.

Cam explains it was after encountering legal problems with a previous business that the impetus for Zorali came about.

 

 

Elise was working at Rip Curl in the women’s design team and Cam was running the business he started from his parents’ backyard at a young age which grew to service customers in more than 40 countries.

“That was called Monsta Surf and we had a big energy brand that may have a similar name come after us,” he explains.

“We were basically forced to rebrand or start something new.

“We saw it as a blessing in disguise because one of the things that always frustrated me with the surf brand was people saying ‘I love your brand but I don’t surf’.

“I’d always say ‘it’s not about surfing, it’s about getting people outside’.

“So that legal challenge really gave us an opportunity to realign who we were, the message we wanted to convey and Elise brought the creative energy to make it happen. We joined forces and became Zorali.”

 

 

Cam says Monsta Surf had a strong community, something they didn’t want to lose in the transition.

Zorali launched will help from a crowdfunding campaign which attracted 550 investors

“That really helped us get off the ground and set us on our path,” he recalls.

“It was quite a journey for us because it was like stepping out into a fog.

“We had big dreams for Zorali but no real idea of how it was all going to come to life.

“Just before we got married Elise left her job so it was a bit of a leap of faith for us. Elise actually designed the logo on our honeymoon.

“Looking back now we are like ‘wow, it has grown so much’ and there are so many customers and a strong community behind it, it’s really cool to see.”

Despite much of the world being in lockdown for a significant proportion of the past two years, Zorali received more than 23,000 orders from an enthusiastic consumer base in Australia and overseas.

Since launching Zorali has sold 40,225 products – amounting to more than $3.2 million in sales – and achieved its goal of increasing the average order value by 85 per cent to now sit at $185.

 

 

Their latest crowdfunding campaign launched yesterday with Birchal with the aim of increasing the brand’s global reach.

The crowdfunding effort will also back the company’s environmental efforts, having planted almost 500,000 trees to date, with 10 trees planted for every product sold and 100 trees planted with every sale of their “100 Tree Tees”.

It all ties into their vision to orient the brand toward community, wellbeing and care for the environment.

“We like to see ourselves as more of a sustainable, wellness brand attracting the consumer who wants to just get outside for their mental health and wellbeing in the simplest of forms.

“A lot of the outdoor industry was founded in the early days on mountaineering so a lot of the marketing can come across as technical and extreme.

“For us, we see the outdoors as not a proving ground to be attacked with technical equipment but more of a playground to be enjoyed.

“We really try to make the outdoors approachable and accessible to anyone and everyone.”

It is no surprise then that the start-up’s bestseller is the Camp Out Set which provides everything needed for those “taking their first steps into nature”.

 

 

The pandemic has only served to reinforce the vision Cam and Elise so passionately share.

“When Elise and I started Zorali, we knew we were embarking on a bold adventure, and we’d be lying if we said we ever saw a global pandemic coming.

“But after having some of those simple joys and freedoms taken away from them during lockdowns, so many people have come to recognise and appreciate the importance of spending time in nature.

“Whether it’s five minutes on your lunchbreak or walking the dog through an area that is green and has lots of trees.

“These simple daily interactions with nature have become really important in people’s lives.

“If these two years have taught us anything, it’s that the call of the great outdoors is ringing louder, stronger and more persistently than ever before.”

For more information about the crowdfunding opportunity or to purchase Zorali products, visit the Zorali and Birchel websites, and follow Zorali on Instagram @zorali.