When students pull on the latest line of University of Newcastle clothing, it’s unlikely to stoke US-style college tribalism in the way of Penn State, or Alabama’s Crimson Tide.

It will, though, repel mosquitoes. Those who have fired up the barbecues, mowed the lawns and scooped the pools of Australia’s backyards may feel a twinge in their hearts, or in their veins. What, after all, chills the blood of a sleep-deprived Aussie like the whine of a mozzie in summer?

The story of Borne Clothing

The university’s new long-sleeve and t-shirts are inspired by its bushland campus. For the four brains behind the range - the founders of Newcastle clothing label Borne Clothing – it is a canvas rich in itches, natural beauty and a million reminders of why they themselves could have used a similar shield growing up. The bites of a Hunter upbringing feel fresh on their limbs, but they know how much worse things could be.

Group of students wearing Borne clothing x University of Newcastle tee's on Callaghan Campus with Dan from the Borne team (pictured in white tee)
Group of students wearing Borne clothing x University of Newcastle tees on Callaghan Campus with Dan from the Borne team (pictured in white tee)

“Fundamentally we started with a problem, which is that malaria is a massive burden of disease around the world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia,” cofounder Bal Dhital says.

“Also, mosquitoes are a nuisance here. I think that even if you were to just take a blank t-shirt and make it mosquito-repellent, the fact that you’re connecting mosquitoes with a t-shirt is the real thing that brings it all together.”

Borne Clothing is a social enterprise in its fourth calendar year. The venture between Dhital and mates Tim Keys, Dan Robson and Pat Prell, all aged 25 to 26, arose partly to improve the lot of locals harassed by mosquitoes but mainly to contribute to the global fight against malaria. Dhital and Keys, both junior doctors in Newcastle, point to the misery in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as Nigeria, home to more than a quarter of the world’s malaria infections each year. The Borne four direct half of their profits to Nothing But Nets, a UN initiative that provides insecticidal bed nets and other aid to people in countries riddled with mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria. So far, that is an amount in the thousands of dollars. With the help of the university’s Integrated Innovation Network I2N, the four have concentrated their label’s formative years on advocating for the campaign, but hope to increase the amount they donate. The urgency of the problem has flared in the pandemic as, says Dhital, overstretched health systems in many African countries have failed to keep pace with the dual crises of malaria and covid.

Woman in the Republic of Congo with insecticidal bed net - photo courtesy of Nothing but Nets
Congolese woman with insecticidal bed net - photo courtesy of Nothing but Nets

Borne Clothing is treated with the active ingredient permethrin, a World Health Organisation-approved deterrent to flies, ticks, midges and mosquitoes that is kinder to the senses than DEET. The idea of using permethrin on clothes didn’t come from the Borne four, they add. But their way of using it to aid a global campaign did. In brainstorming sessions in Tim’s garage in Hamilton, then Dan’s garage in Broadmeadow, getting into clothes was not the group’s first instinct. A consensus was reached to do something for public health that went beyond the hospital ward but, with Prell studying to be a mechatronics engineer, their first thought was drones. The whole endeavour was brought into sharp focus by the group’s decision to enter the University’s Grand Challenge. They presented their proposal after an inspiration-fuelled all-nighter, a feat of endurance alongside their studies that Dhital doubts would have been possible without an intrinsic belief in what they were doing. They won the $10,000 first prize and praise from the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alex Zelinsky.

“We’re extremely proud of Borne Clothing’s success, of their commitment to sustainability and their generous donation to this worthwhile cause. Borne Clothing is exactly the kind of success story we at the University of Newcastle had hoped would come about from the Grand Challenge,” Professor Zelinsky said.

“Personally, I’m excited to see the team’s next steps.”

Each cofounder, too, found an application for his talents that wasn’t obvious at first. Instead of putting drones in the sky, Prell used algorithms to steer the venture through the choppy waters of investment and sustainability. Robson’s skills in graphic design were a more obvious fit, and his influence can be seen in the new range. But Dhital and Keys, who met in first year medical school, say they want to provide something beyond the gains of their fledgling careers in public health. Says Dhital, it’s more about tapping into the well of desire that got them there.

“It definitely takes up a lot of our time. As cliched as it sounds, you do have to be passionate about what you’re doing or it’s quite hard to drum up the energy to keep going and chipping away at what’s more than a block, but a big mountain of achievement that we’re going for,” he says.

“Malaria has been a fulfilling problem to work on.”

It’s tempting to equate the cofounders with a band, with certain parallels. Who is Paul? John? The four prefer to identify with the opening montage of the heist film Ocean’s 11. If ever they had an excuse to waver on their labour of love, it was before Christmas, 2019, with their hearts racing and their cars running hot.

Borne Clothing was six months old and devouring its founders’ spare time. The early mosquito-repellent shirts, which would broaden into a range that now includes kids’ clothes, had started appearing on torsos that didn’t belong to friends and relatives. Some of the new orders were coming from interstate. But the four had underestimated the interest in their wares in the lead-up to Christmas, as supply chains began to groan amid reports of a mysterious new virus. Enough shirts to fill a shipping container were left stranded, somewhere, in a port or warehouse. The stash missed a flight to Sydney. Then another. When the shirts finally touched down the week before Christmas, neither the postal service nor private couriers could guarantee their delivery by December 25. Borne Clothing’s spike in popularity had collided with global headwinds to send each cofounder on a pre-Christmas delivery road trip powered by snacks, tunes, podcasts and adrenaline. Some customers were as far away as Goulburn and Canberra.

“Bal didn’t have any air-con,” recalls Keys. "He drives a very beat-up Mazda 3. The beat-upness is all his own fault.”

But the mission was a defining moment, a victory snatched from the jaws of customer disappointment that brought the cofounders face-to-face with who was buying their product. Some were elderly, living in retirement homes, buying Borne Clothing shirts for their grandkids. It changed who the brand targeted, says Dhital. Keys says it taught them the value of meeting their customers.

For most in the Hunter the threat from mosquitoes this summer won’t eclipse sleep deprivation, or a dinner on the back deck where the guests can’t relax. Still, who wants that? And is there a mosquito hotspot in the Hunter? Opinion is split. For Keys, Newcastle is itself the mosquito capital of the state. Specifically, he says, Glenrock National Park. Dhital points the finger at the nearby wetlands.

The Borne Clothing team at the Hunter Wetlands
The Borne Clothing team at the Hunter Wetlands

But far from Shortland or Callaghan, in the global coexistence between mozzie and man, there has been a recent win for medicine. In the central American country of El Salvador, not a case of malaria has been recorded since 2017. It’s a trend of eradication the Newcastle mates want to amplify, one shirt at a time.

Did you know?

  • Malaria is a preventable, curable disease that is however life-threatening. Infected female Anopheles mosquitoes transmit malaria to people by biting them. In 2020 there were an estimated 241 million cases worldwide, and 627,000 deaths.
  • The World Health Organisation reports that its WHO African Region was home to 95 per cent of global malaria cases, and 96 per cent of deaths. Children under five years of age are thought to account for four-fifths of those deaths.
  • Borne Clothing utilises Insect Shield, a brand of insect repellent that is registered with the US Environmental Protection Agency. Insect Shield’s technology tightly binds the active ingredient permethrin to the fibres of Borne Clothing garments. This stops it from leaving the fabric, and it means that it stays in the clothing, rather than on it, so that it doesn’t wash away with water or rub off on skin.
  • Borne Clothing is an intentionally social enterprise that makes its environmental impact a core tenet. Its shirts are made from 100 per cent organic cotton, its packaging biodegradable and its shipping footprint offset to GoldStandard criteria. The label’s Newcastle co-founders also manage its finances with Greater Bank, a Newcastle institution with a commitment to fossil-free investing.
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Aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

1 - No poverty3 - Good health and well-being4 - Quality education9 - Industry, innovation and infrastructure10 - Reduced inequalities12 - Responsible consumption and production17 - Partnerships for the goals