Capella business Little Spurs and Co gains international interest

A rural mum’s unique idea, dreamt up one night on a Queensland cattle station, has evolved into a popular Aussie clothing brand. Now, it will go international. VIDEO, PHOTOS.

A mum of four’s idea that started while she was sitting up in bed at night with her husband will soon go international.

Vanessa Challacombe began her little bush business Little Spurs and Co in 2018 as a way to get back into the workforce after having her children.

Now, the six-figure business has put the small country town of Capella, which has a population of just under 1000 people, on the map as her products going far and wide.

Growing up on a cane farm in the Mackay region, Ms Challacombe travelled around Queensland playing sport before settling in Capella, three-and-a-half hours west of Rockhampton, where she found the love of her life, her husband Trent, who works as a station manager at the family property Marathon Downs.

The business was born out of the inspiration to create clothing for children, women and men to live life fully on the land, whether it be mustering or heading out.

“My husband and I were just sitting up one night and decided to start a clothing business,” she said.

“It’s been guns blazing from there ever since.

Capella mum Vanessa Challacombe's clothing has shown off her Little Spurs collection at Rockhampton’s Beef Week. Photos: Steve Vit

“I chose something I can do from home; we have another house on the property so I go to work, I come home and have a great work-life balance, we can take it on the road when we’re available with our small children.

“It’s online so it’s something I can do when I put the children to bed, it’s something that just worked.”

When Vanessa got designing, she liaised with clothing manufacturers getting countless swatches of clothing pieces until she found a product she was happy with.

Fast-forward to 2023 and the business was recognised as one of Inside’s Top 50 Small Business Leaders, and has travelled to events such as CMC Rocks, the Ekka, Sydney Royal Show, Dalby Stock Horse Sale and the Warwick Gold Cup, to name a few.

Ms Challacombe said previously working in telecommunications for 15 years had helped her with aspects of her current business.

“I was in the logistics area, so very similar to Little Spurs and Co dealing with apparel and dealing with warehouse technicians,” she said.

“I started from the get-go with kids and adults' apparel, everything that we have is ready to go, nothing is pre-order, anything anyone wants on our website is ready to go.”

Kids modelling Little Spurs clothing during Beef Week 2024.

Ms Challacombe said the business continues to grow each month.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, literally each month it keeps growing bigger and bigger, we’re gaining more staff every few months for different trade events,” she said.

“Our sun-shirts are probably our most popular product as they’re UV50-rated and our rompers, too.”

It’s not uncommon for Ms Challacombe to see people wearing her products, and is a moment she said she “still gets butterflies” over.

“I still get butterflies that it’s actually happening, I always pull them up and say ‘I love your shirt, that’s my brand’ and a lot of mums say thank you for making such quality clothing and designing such quality.

“It (sun safety) is huge, that’s why I pride myself on my sun shirts.”

The Little Spurs and Co team have had a busy week at Beef Australia with Ms Challacombe saying she could not put a figure on how many pieces of clothing she had sold.

Vanessa Challacombe's clothing line Little Spurs being modelled during Beef Week 2024.

She’s also had a secondary stall set up at Stockland Rockhampton.

It has taken nine months of planning in the lead up to Beef 2024.

“We were very lucky to get in, and we haven’t looked back ever since we got in … from booking the trade site, to booking the furniture, designing the apparel, the staff, the babysitters, everything goes into it,” she said.

“We’ve been planning beef for quite some time and have release a new range just for Beef Week as well.”

Ms Challacombe said there were big things to come for the future of Little Spurs and Co, with work underway to distribute her products internationally.

“I feel very honoured, I’ve been rewarded quite a lot in the business industry, I was top 50 in Australia for small business marketing, so that was great,” she said.

“The recognition goes quite a long way in this industry, especially for myself as a mum and my children are quite young, so I haven’t looked back, and the support around me is everywhere.”