About Us

CUTTING-EDGE WORKWEAR AND INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES BACKED BY 60,000 YEARS OF CULTURE

For the 2nd year running ESG represents the number 1 risk for the mining & resources sector in Australia (Ernst & Young, Australian Resources & Investment October 2022).

Cole Supplies addresses this challenge:

We are an established ten year old supply nation certified, majority Indigenous owned company that sources unique, environmentally conscious health & safety products.

Cole Supplies is a proudly Noongar owned and operated Supply Nation-certified supplier of high-quality bulk corporate apparel and industrial supplies. We were the first and only Indigenous safety wholesaler in Australia, bringing quality back to workwear.

Founded in early 2013 as Cole Workwear, Perth businessman and Noongar community leader, Gordon Cole, joined forces with Michael Cima, experienced importer and founder of Australia’s first Indigenous workwear company, with a shared focus on supporting local communities.

In 2020 we expanded our offering, so customers can source everything they need to run their business at Cole Supplies.  Since January 2nd 2020, our small yet dedicated team have supplied over 39 million masks & other medical PPE to the Australian Government during a very challenging time – firstly with the Bushfires into remote areas, then COVID-19 with a lack of any stock whatsoever. This provided us with an opportunity to vastly expand our service offering, which currently includes a wide range of cutting edge medical PPE products including Eco-friendly Reusable Respiratory products, PET Anti-virus bags, Hygiene products, Eco-friendly promotional merchandise, New hand protection products, a new range of Rip-Stop shirts and much much more. Hence, the need to change our company name to reflect the wealth of new products available to our customers.

Now, Cole Supplies have become a truly national one-stop-shop for all of your bulk corporate and industrial supplies.

Together, Michael & Gordon bring decades of invaluable knowledge and experience, which means Cole Supplies is a leader in the industry. We stock an innovative range of Supply Nation-certified products that meet the market’s demand for value without compromising performance and the fast turnarounds the industry demands.

Our rich heritage is engrained in everything we do; from our commitment to customer experience to enriching our communities through our work. We’re proud supporters of many local community groups and work tirelessly to support Aboriginals in a variety of cultural activities.

As a Supply Nation-certified business, we’re a part of Australia’s leading directory of verified Indigenous companies, dedicated to supporting supplier diversity to create a more inclusive economy.

 

 

Community support

Nyoongar Wellbeing & Sports Association

Cole Supplies proudly supports the Noongar Wellbeing & Sports (NWS) by giving back a percentage of our profits to the NWS.

The NWS has become recognised and respected as the leading grassroots agency within Noongar Country. It aims to develop partnerships that maximise opportunities for Indigenous Australians residing in Noongar country, including increased participation in sport and recreational activities in order to have positive health, education, social and cultural benefits for individuals and their respective communities.

Noongar Country is an area approximately 300,000 sq. Km in size and approximately half of the Western Australian Aboriginal population (30,000) reside in this region.

Young Aboriginal Girls Program

From 2016/17 onwards, we have been supporting a NWS-led Young Aboriginal Girls Program. The program involves young Aboriginal girls and their carers living in the Mirrabooka area of Perth, WA and aims to improve parenting engagement, self-efficacy and wellbeing and cultural respect and pride.
The program involves weekly physical activity sessions, leadership activities, cultural activities and occasional excursions/bonding sessions for both the girls and their carers. This program was originally funded by Communities for Children and initially included cultural dance activities for the girls and physical activity and parenting workshops for the carers. The hope is to generate additional funding to support these types of activities again.

The following report outlines the positive impact of our sponsorship of the NWS’s Young Aboriginal Girls Program: cole-workwear-sponsorship-of-yag-cultural-excursion-report-oct-2016.

Targets

  • 20 girls per weekly session
  • 40 sessions delivered per year
  • 4 different cultural excursions/activities for both carers and girls per year

Help us continue to support this worthy cause by purchasing any item from Cole Supplies’ exclusive Boomerang™ range online.

For more information please visit the NWS website: www.nyoongarsports.com.au

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Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP)

Since its inception in mid-2015, the Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP) has sought to close the economic gap that exists between Indigenous & non-Indigenous businesses. The economic and social flow-on effects from a thriving Indigenous business sector are profound. To date, this policy has resulted in a total direct spend by Federal Government agencies with 1,524 Indigenous businesses of $2 billion (PM&C, June 2019). The recent roll out of IPPs on a state level is set to boost these numbers significantly. There has never been a more exciting time for capable Indigenous businesses to succeed and Cole Supplies seeks to position itself at the forefront of this movement.

Supply Nation certification

Since 2009, Supply Nation has worked with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses along with procurement teams from government and corporate Australia to help shape today’s emerging and rapidly evolving Indigenous business sector into a prosperous, vibrant and sustainable sector.

Cole Supplies is proudly a Supply Nation-certified business, meaning we are a part of a national effort to diversify supply chains within Australia to include the traditionally underutilised Indigenous business sector and facilitate Indigenous businesses to increase engagement, create sustainable relationships and increase their overall business.

According to Supply Nation, “for every $1 of revenue, Certified Suppliers generate $4.41 of social return. That means your dollar is working 4 times harder when you spend with Indigenous businesses.”