A brand featuring lightweight, breathable, and functional fabrics ideal for the Australian outdoors and international travel adventures

Photo credit: Sally Jane

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR | GUITAR THRILLS MAGAZINE TAMPA, FL U.S.A

Sally Jane

Sally Jane is well and truly on her way to music success. With release of her debut EP resulting in three of the four tracks in the top 10 AMRAP Regional Charts including the number one spot with “Kiss You When the Rain Comes “and Sally Jane’s fourth track “Too Young” a finalist in the West Australian Music Song of the Year Awards. From small town Serpentine WA, Sally’s music takes her on the road as a regular touring artist in all WA regions and regularly across Australia to Tamworth NSW and all Australian states.

When building a brand, the final outcome can be unpredictable but 100 years later
Thomas Cook Boot and Clothing Co has gone from strength to strength supporting
some of the best and emerging country artists in Australia and New Zealand.
“Over the past century, we’ve seen significant and important changes which has led
the company to adapt to these changing times and shifting consumer trends.
Starting from humble beginnings, Thomas Cook Sr. originally began making boxing
boots from the small tin shed of his friend, and business partner, Jim Murray.
Originally trading under the name Marksman Shoe’s and with the help of Thomas’
wife Dorris, who was also a boot maker from the age of 13, the company expanded
significantly. The range grew to include football boots and dress shoes and soon
enough, the pair purchased a small factory in Reservoir.

After working in advertising and customer relations for several years prior, Thomas
Cook Jr (Tom) joined his father in the family business, learning the ropes with the
view to one day take over. The business continued to grow significantly, and
Marksman Shoes changed its name to Murray and Cook Shoes. At this time, the
two fathers were looking to retire and officially handed the business down to their
sons in 1972. Murray & Cook shoes released a range of dress boots and other
footwear including platform shoes, which became the symbol of 1970’s fashion.
Tom worked together with Jim’s son, Bill Murray, for 5 years before the partnership
turned tumultuous. The pair separated and Tom Cook established Thomas Cook
Footwear.

Under Tom Cook’s leadership, Thomas Cook Footwear evolved. Tom’s wife and
son, Kay and Murray Cook joined the business and Tom hit the road, selling to a
growing list of stockists from all over the country. Tom started to import and
distribute products from several large western boot brands at the time. Tom and
Kay traveled regularly around the world, in search of current trends at the time that
would work for an Australian market and Murray would hold the fort back home.
The family business continued to expand and build relationships with loyal stockists
and in the early 80s, Murray introduced a collection of country clothing to
complement the range of footwear. Before retiring in the early 1990’s, Tom
established Adventure Clothing, a brand featuring lightweight, breathable, and
functional fabrics ideal for the Australian outdoors and international travel
adventures. The brand was extremely well received and saw recognition
internationally.

In the early 1990’s, Kay and Tom officially retired and handed the business down to
Murray Cook who, after producing and expanding the range of country clothing to
include moleskins, hats, oilskin coats and more, changed the business’ name to
Thomas Cook Boot and Clothing Co. Since this time, we’ve introduced a range of
technical fabrics and product features, designed for maximum comfort. Stretchy
Comfort waistbands, thermal jeans and Cushion Technology in our boots are all
introductions to the range under Murray’s leadership. During this time, we’ve also
entered several successful and long-lasting partnerships with major western brands
including Wrangler and Twisted X Boots. Together, Murray and his wife, Sue, who
manages sales within the company, continue to adapt to changing markets and
strengthen relationships with over 1,200 customers across Australia and New
Zealand.

Now, Lachlan Cook is working alongside his parents, Murray and Sue, learning the
many different aspects of the business. He is helping to support our stockists by
driving sales to them via social media, further embodying our ethos to shop local.”
Thomas Cook Boot Clothing & Co currently work with 11 country artists across
Australia and New Zealand. “We have worked with some artists for many years,
even decades and some are a more recent partnership. When we review an artist,
we look for someone who is engaging, who has an amazing presence, both on
stage and off, as well as someone with natural charisma and a wonderful
personality. Our ambassadors all have their own individual styles, both musically
and in their outfits, and it’s so great to watch them explore this. We are so proud of
the collaboration we have with these musicians!”

Supporting country artists is crucial to the brand. As a business who has a strong
presence in mostly regional areas around Australia and New Zealand, “we find it so
important to support country towns as much as we can. We feel that by supporting
local talent in the music industry, we strengthen that ethos. With our support, we
hope to give our ambassadors additional space through our social media channels
to further elevate their own presence, as well as collaborate with them on fresh, new
ideas which resonate with our brands. It’s a win-win situation!”
The brand ambassadors wear the clothes and apparel anywhere from the bush to
the stage. “It means so much to be able to see what they have curated and
selected from our brands to be part of their stage performance is definitely
something special for us. Many of our ambassadors in the music industry have
grown so much from when we first started the partnership and it’s amazing to see
that journey unfold.”

Looking into the future can be a very exciting time and over the years, “we’ve grown
some pretty amazing partnerships with both our stockists and ambassadors. Some
of our customers have supported us for many decades and being able to continue
strengthening those relationships is so important to us. We look forward to watching
our ambassadors thrive in their individual style and genres of music and are excited
to see which new musicians will enter the industry.”

if you are interested in what products Thomas Cook Boot & Clothing Co have to
offer, head to their website https://thomascook.com.au/ and remember to shop local!

B&G Guitars

A RECAP OF WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

•  Next-Level U-Bass: Kala Teams Up with Graph Tech for Helium-X Bridge on California U•BASS® 
•  The B&G Crossroads Stepsister Midnight Ocean with Humbuckers is a classy, sleek machine with a retro look and a versatile modern feel! 
•  Wampler EGO 76 Compressor Pedal has expanded control capability .... providing tone, attack, release, level.
• "I'm becoming better as an engineer." The sonic spectrum of the recordings! You get better at it, and I love mixing!