It's been a big year for Liam Scanlan.
Named Student Entrepreneur of 2019 by the University of Newcastle, where he is finishing a business degree, Mr Scanlan has also racked up 180 per cent growth in the 2019 financial year in his surf wear startup Eat Your Water.
When he started selling his T-shirts in 2015, he was selling up to 50 a week.
"In November we moved over 2700 units, or 90 a day on average - which is probably roughly what we did in an entire year at the start, if even that," he notes.
Earlier in the year Scanlan, 23, was named in the top 50 movers and shakers in e-commerce and flown to Melbourne as part of Australian Retail Week. Rubbing shoulders with the founders of companies including Showpo, Booktopia and The Iconic was inspiring for the Novocastrian.
"I got to hear their points of views and what they are doing in business and it gave me a lot to take back to Eat Your Water," he says.
Having started the business from his home, Scanlan has just leased a warehouse at Steel River for his merchandise, which he manufactures in Indonesia.
"We've kept tightening the supply chain and now can get more stock in. Every stock order we get is getting bigger and selling out, we have 21 cap designs and 17 are sold out which was literally within two weeks," he says.
He personally designs the majority of his T-shirts, having taught himself graphic design by tinkering away online.
Mr Scanlan employs three casuals who are mates.
He also uses a team of about 25 contractors, some of who he's encouraged to also become sole traders, ranging from photographers and graphic design and specialist business services.
A keen surfer around Newcastle beaches, Mr Scanlan is also stepping up his company's efforts to collaborate with charities and reduce its carbon footprint.
"We have removed a lot of unnecessary plastics in wrapping and now we are reinventing the way our T-shirts are packed, we'll be using a bio plastic made from a root vegetable in Indonesia and decomposes to nothing," he says.
