From Beach Day Disaster to Booming Business: Meet the Two Mums Behind Lozi & Gabe

What started with a sunburnt baby, a frustrating beach trip and two mums wondering why nobody had come up with a better solution has turned into a thriving Australian business. Meet best friends Alyssa De Villiers and Jessica Ferreira, the women behind Lozi & Gabe, who are proving that some of the best business ideas come from the everyday challenges of motherhood.

Anyone who's ever attempted a beach day with a baby or toddler will know it's not quite the relaxing outing you might have imagined. By the time you've packed the towels, snacks, sunscreen, nappies, spare clothes, toys and what feels like half the contents of your house, you're practically ready for a holiday just to recover from getting everyone out the door.

And that's before you've even attempted to set up the beach tent.

For Australian mums Alyssa De Villiers and Jessica Ferreira, it was precisely this sort of experience that sparked an idea that would eventually become Lozi & Gabe, a beach and lifestyle brand designed to make getting outdoors with little ones considerably easier.

But their story is about much more than clever beach accessories. It's also about friendship, taking a chance on an idea, investing your own money and discovering that building a business while raising young children is anything but the glamorous entrepreneurial lifestyle we're so often sold on social media.

The two women first met while studying psychology and quickly became close friends. Over the years, they've celebrated engagements, weddings and the arrival of their children together. Starting a business wasn't necessarily part of the original plan, but as it turns out, motherhood had other ideas.

The lightbulb moment came after Jess took her eight-week-old baby to the beach. Despite keeping him under the shade of a tree, he still ended up sunburnt.

"We sat under tree shade the entire time, thinking he was protected, but he still got sunburnt," Jess recalls. "That's when I realised sun protection needs to come from all angles, not just overhead like a traditional umbrella or cabana."

Around the same time, Alyssa was hitting the beach for her first summer with her baby, and the friends had organised a group beach holiday. Like so many new mums, they were desperate for a little time outdoors, some adult conversation and a break from the demands of caring for newborns.

Jess, however, was beginning to wonder whether taking her baby to the beach was worth the effort.

"Jess was second-guessing whether she should even come, telling me how difficult their beach trips had been with her newborn, from sunburn to the glare and heat," Alyssa remembers.

Determined not to abandon their plans, Alyssa brought along an old-fashioned beach tent with poles. It did the job, but setting it up and packing it away was another matter entirely.

"We kept saying, surely there must be something easier, something functional that would keep our babies protected without being an eyesore. Nothing on the market ticked all the boxes, so we decided to create it ourselves."

And as they say, necessity is the mother of invention. In this case, quite literally. And so, Lozi & Gabe was born.

Of course, coming up with an idea over a beach holiday is one thing. Turning it into a product people actually want to buy is quite another.

For the next 18 months, Alyssa and Jess worked with different manufacturers, experimenting with shapes, sizes and materials to develop what would become their signature pop-up beach tent.

They wanted something lightweight, easy to carry, quick to assemble and capable of providing proper sun protection. But they were equally determined that it should look good.

"We wanted products that genuinely made getting out with little ones easier, but equally helped us feel like ourselves," Jess explains, adding with a laugh that "the endless sea of dinosaur prints just wasn't it!"

The result was a thoughtfully designed beach shelter offering UPF 50+ protection, mesh windows for ventilation and a pop-up design that takes around ten seconds to assemble.

Lozi & Gabe officially launched in August 2023, just two months after Alyssa had given birth to her daughter.

Even by entrepreneurial standards, the timing was ambitious.

"My family is well-versed in my entrepreneurial ideas, so they weren't surprised," Alyssa says. "I think what really shocked my family, though, was how quickly we grew and scaled.

We also launched two months after my daughter was born, so I think that was a little mad!"

Jess's family was perhaps a little less convinced initially.

"I remember my older sister thinking I was mad! It was quite left field. One minute I'd had a bad beach day, and the next we had a business idea bursting out of us with so much passion it was impossible to stop."

But behind the excitement of launching a new brand was the rather less glamorous reality of finding the money to make it happen.

The women invested their savings, took out business loans and borrowed money from family to fund their first rounds of stock. And as Jess quickly discovered, manufacturing a product is only the beginning.

"People often underestimate the costs of manufacturing, warehousing and marketing a product. You can have the best product in the world, but getting it in front of customers takes a lot of money, patience and persistence."

It's a side of entrepreneurship that doesn't tend to feature quite so prominently in the inspirational Instagram posts encouraging women to quit their jobs and follow their dreams.

Alyssa is equally candid about the realities of being your own boss.

"I think being a founder has really been romanticised. Yes, it has given me a lot of freedom to be with my children while they're young, but it's also non-stop, and you never really get a break."

She admits that one of the biggest challenges has been the sheer amount of work required to build a brand before there's even enough money to pay yourself.

Then there's the small matter of suddenly finding yourself responsible for everything from product development and marketing to logistics, finances and customer service, often with absolutely no experience in half of it.

For two women who were already juggling motherhood and other work commitments, it was a steep learning curve.

And while running your own business might offer flexibility, it also comes with the uncomfortable reality that there's always something else you could be doing.

For Alyssa, learning to establish boundaries has been one of the most important lessons.

"There's always something that feels urgent, so that structure helps me focus on what needs my attention. I've also learned to stop for the day and accept that not everything will get done."

Jess has learned that building a business requires a rather different mindset from the instant gratification we're accustomed to.

"Learning that business is a long game. It takes grit and perseverance to get through the tough patches."

She's also discovered the importance of keeping things in perspective when something inevitably goes wrong and it feels as though the entire business is about to fall apart.

Thankfully, one thing neither woman has had to navigate alone is the emotional rollercoaster of entrepreneurship.

While business partnerships can be notoriously difficult, Alyssa and Jess believe their longstanding friendship and different strengths have been an enormous advantage.

"We are both spontaneous, impulsive and positive," Jess says. "Having someone to dream big with and run with the next crazy idea has been so fun!"

Alyssa agrees, particularly when it comes to the isolation that can accompany running a business.

"I think being a business owner can be really isolating and often lonely, so building this business with Jess has been amazing. Having someone to share the highs and lows with, bounce ideas off and navigate the challenges alongside makes such a difference."

And despite the inevitable pressures, the pair have managed to maintain the friendship that brought them together in the first place.

Their secret? Trust, communication and knowing when to let the other person take the lead.

Since launching, Lozi & Gabe has expanded beyond its original beach tent to include towels, portable fans, beach chairs, ponchos and other accessories designed to make family outings a little less complicated.

But the original pop-up tent remains the brand's most popular product, and some of the feedback from customers has been particularly meaningful.

Jess recalls hearing from a mother who had been using her tent for four years and had recently welcomed her third baby.

Other parents have told the founders that having a practical, easy-to-use shelter has given them the confidence to venture out to the beach alone with their babies, something that can feel surprisingly daunting when you're a new mum.

For Alyssa, those messages are a reminder of why they started the business in the first place.

"Never underestimate the power of a five-star review!" she says.

It's also what keeps them going through the less enjoyable parts of running a business, whether that's dealing with manufacturing challenges, managing stock or trying to coordinate overseas supplier visits around family commitments.

At the time of our interview, Alyssa was preparing to travel to China to meet with suppliers, just as the busiest retail period of the year was approaching.

She admits she was already questioning her timing.

Still, the pair have no intention of slowing down, with more products in development and what Jess describes as an exciting year ahead for Lozi & Gabe in 2027.

For women who have ever found themselves thinking they could turn an everyday frustration into a business, Alyssa and Jess have some refreshingly practical advice.

Rather than waiting until you've worked everything out, Alyssa recommends simply starting.

"Ask lots of questions and take it one step at a time. People were generous with their time when I asked, and I wouldn't be here without them."

Jess agrees, encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs to speak to as many business owners as possible and learn from their experiences.

"There's so much to learn from the experiences of others, and often one conversation can point you in the right direction of the next step to take."

It's advice that makes sense when you consider how their own business began. Neither woman set out to create a beachwear brand. They were simply two friends, navigating the early days of motherhood, who spotted a problem and wondered whether they could do something about it.

And there's something rather lovely about the fact that a business born out of the challenges of motherhood is now helping other mums feel a little more confident about getting out of the house with their children.

As for their advice on surviving a day at the beach with little ones, it's surprisingly simple.

"A positive attitude and the ability to pivot!" Jess says. "Some days you'll leave earlier than planned, and others will be surprisingly smooth."

Alyssa agrees that the best outings are often the ones where you stop worrying about getting everything right.

"Some of the best family memories come from the most ordinary moments, and the more you get out and give it a go, the easier it becomes."

And really, the same could probably be said about starting a business.

You don't need to have everything figured out. Sometimes you just need a good idea, a little courage and someone who's prepared to take the leap with you.

For Alyssa and Jess, that leap started with some sand and a beach tent.

Discover Lozi & Gabe at www.loziandgabe.com.au or follow @loziandgabe on Instagram.