Cricket star Pat Cummins invests in sustainable clothing start-up MAWDE

Australian cricket star Pat Cummins has emerged as an investor in a sustainable clothing e-commerce start-up.

Australian cricket team vice-captain Pat Cummins has invested in MAWDE, a sustainable clothing e-commerce start-up.

Australian fast bowling star Pat Cummins has emerged as an investor in a sustainable clothing e-commerce start-up that has found success appealing to consumers working from home.

Cummins is keen on investing in the technology sector and start-ups and has put money into a company called MAWDE that claims to disrupt the sleep and loungewear categories by combining them into what they call “sloungewear”.

The Sydney manufacturer sells clothing made out of bamboo via online channels directly to customers, tapping into the marketing expertise of founder John Gutteridge.

A former advertising executive and one-time boss of Wunderman Thompson in Australia and New Zealand, Gutteridge started MAWDE – which stands for Make A World of Difference Every Day – earlier this year.

“The business was launched in April this year to coincide with some major shifts in consumer behaviour. Not only are we seeing a hybrid work world emerge from Covid, we’re also seeing a growing demand for comfort and versatility,” he says.

Many Australian cricketers, ranging from former captain Michael Clarke to hard-hitting opener David Warner, have amassed considerable property portfolios in recent years as their pay packets increased while the value of Cricket Australia’s broadcast rights boomed along with lucrative contracts in the Indian Premier League series.

The Indian Premier League has substantially boosted the pay packets of Australia’s top cricketers. Picture: Kolkata Knight Riders

Cummins earlier this year shelled out a reported $9.5m for a home in Sydney’s Bronte after selling a rooftop apartment in Clovelly for $3.7m, and had a contract worth more than $2m to compete in the IPL.

One-time captain Steve Smith is another with a collection of properties, though he also has made good gains on an $100,000 investment in mattress start-up Koala in 2015 that is now worth more than 10 times that initial stake.

Warner has also some investments outside property, including millennial-focused financial planning start-up Bamboo that also counts fast bowler Mitchell Starc as an investor.

Touted as a possible future Australian test captain, Cummins said he invested in MAWDE because of its sustainable nature and because it was manufactured in Sydney. “We are trying to solve a problem in the fashion industry that is really prevalent. Fast fashion has been a big change in the last 10-15 years in the sector, but it couldn’t be any further from being sustainable,” Cummins tells The Australian.

“The next generation want to know how things are being made and where it has been sourced, and so purpose-driven brands have been in high demand in recent years. There’s more businesses talking about why they exist and what change do they want to make in the world. That is what I find the most interesting part of any brand.”

MAWDE products are made from bamboo. Bamboo pulp is used to create the brand’s own fine yarn. It’s promoted as being sustainable compared with other clothing lines given bamboo absorbs five times more carbon dioxide and produces 35 per cent more oxygen than hardwood trees and needs little water.

Cummins is currently vice-captain of the Australian team across all forms of cricket, and says he fielded several offers before deciding to provide seed funding to MAWDE.

“Opportunities arise all the time. This is my first foray into the start-up space. I think there’s a lot easier ways than investing your money into a clothing start-up, but it is a passion point of mine and I’m trying to help a business grow.

“The start-up space is really interesting to me and I find the entrepreneurial spirit in the company quite energising.”

The “sloungewear” product, the company claims, can be worn in bed, working at home and in the street.

“There’s no one else like us and it’s an easy story to tell,” Cummins says.