You may recognise the green and gold Aussie Made logo around our website- this is because we have been proudly Australian Made, Owned, Designed and Operated since our conception in the late 90's.
This year, May 18 - 24 is Australian Made Week, and we ju
st wanted to shed a little light on our journey and history to celebrate.
First things first, what even is Australian Made Week? Well, it's a great opportunity to spread awareness for local businesses. Supporting small Aussie businesses is essential for generating jobs and boosting the local economy. According to the Australian Made website, however, over 80% of customers say that buying Australian Made is important to them, so you probably already knew that!
Our founder and Director, Colin, was born into the Hopgood Plumbers' family and swiftly became part of the third generation of plumbers. During his apprenticeship in the 1970's however, he became aware of an increased interest in water filtration systems. At the time, knowledge about filtration systems was sparse and inconsistent. This led Colin to research why water filters were rated to treat 20,000 litres, but had to be replaced after a mere six months- with barely 2,000 litres used!
This began Colin's passion for the water filter industry, and in the 1990's he placed his first ad in the yellow pages for water filtration. At the time, there were only two other businesses listed! Within a couple of years, there were well over 35 new businesses. This was also around the period where we were introduced to the SilverSafe® technology. By this time, we had a shop at Southport.
In 1996, we launched our first website, believed to be one of the first water filter businesses in Australia to do so. This is around the time when Colin's now-wife, Natali also joined the company! Being from a technical background, and more interested in developing our products further, Colin decided to let the other businesses fight it out between themselves and handed the shop over to one of our agents. This enabled us to concentrate on what we do best.
Today, we are still proudly 100% Australian Made and Owned. Not only that, we're also a small Family Business, a thread that started with the Hopgood Plumbers over 85 years ago. When you order a B.E.S.T. Water Filter, you're showing us where your support lies in a growing industry. In return, we strive to give you a quality, long lasting product that you can trust. We manufacture right on the Gold Coast. In fact, most of our parts are sourced from South East Queensland!
While we still don't have a physical store, you will mostly likely see Colin (and sometimes Nat!) pop up at caravan and RV shows from time to time. If you see us around, we're happy to have a chat.
When you purchase from us, you are doing an incredible thing by supporting a small Aussie business. We are grateful to our customers, whether new or old, and we love hearing about your travels with your Inlines.
Thank you.
Colin, Natali, and the whole B.E.S.T. team.
B.E.S.T. Staff Party 2023
