Our story — Meet LEONID
I came out to Australia from Novosibirsk in 1998 with about four hundred dollars and a trade certificate that took another two years to get recognised here. Ended up in Tweed Heads doing carpentry fit-outs for a builder who mostly did rental renovations. Decent work, nothing fancy. By 2006 I had my own ABN and was doing residential joinery up through the Gold Coast hinterland. That life made sense to me. You show up, you measure twice, you cut once, and at the end of the day there is something solid sitting where there was nothing before. I liked that logic. It is the same logic I use now, just applied to a different kind of product.
The pivot happened because of my daughter, Masha. She was born in 2019 and my wife Darya started hunting around for decent Australian-made baby things. Most of what she found was either imported with a local sticker on it, or the local stuff was priced like it was made from moon rock. I started looking into it properly as a side thing, maybe three evenings a week at the kitchen table in Kingscliff. I contacted a small textile operation in Albury and drove down in March 2021, about 1,100 kilometres each way, just to see how they worked and whether we could do something together. That trip is where Manly Wares actually started, even though I did not know it yet.
I registered the company in July 2021 under Vertex Commercial Interiors Australia because that was the entity I already had. Rebranding the consumer side as Manly Wares came later, mostly because Darya said nobody was going to buy a baby wrap from a company with the word 'commercial' in the name. She was right. We ran the first small batch, around 80 units, out of a spare room in Kingscliff. I moved the operation to Kiama in early 2023 when we found a proper workshop space near the industrial estate on Terralong Street. It is not glamorous but it works, and I can see the escarpment from the loading bay, which is not a bad thing.
These days we run a small team out of Kiama. I still handle supplier relationships myself because I think that matters. We work with two main textile suppliers, one in Albury and one outside Ballarat, and I talk to both of them at least once a fortnight. Orders go out Tuesday and Thursday. We are not the biggest operation on the South Coast but we are not trying to be. Every piece that leaves here has been checked by a person, not just a process. That is the standard I set when I was fitting out kitchens and it is the same standard now.
— Measure twice, cut once. — LEONID, LEONID CHIPIZUBOFF
Journal
How we finally sorted the swaddle fabric situation
After three rejected fabric samples and one very honest phone call, we found a supplier who actually knew what muslin should feel like.
I spent most of February driving between Kiama and Newcastle chasing down a decent muslin source for the Koala Cuddle Swaddle. The original supplier I'd been using out of Villawood was fine for the first two runs, but their lead times blew out to eleven weeks last year and I couldn't keep promising stock I didn't have. A mate from the old days, he used to run electrical fit-outs up in Tweed Heads, put me onto a small importer based in Broadmeadow who'd been quietly supplying a couple of children's wear labels in the Hunter. I called them on a Tuesday afternoon expecting nothing much.
The bloke I spoke to, Terry, asked me straight away whether I wanted the 70 GSM or 80 GSM weave. That question alone told me he actually knew the product. Most of the fabric reps I'd dealt with up to that point talked in generalities. Terry sent me four samples in the post the next day, no invoice, no contract, just a handwritten note with the GSM and thread counts on each one. I laid them all out on the bench in the shed and did the stretch test, the scrunch test, and left them in the sun for two hours to see how they came out. Two of the four were nowhere near right.
The one I landed on is a 75 GSM open-weave cotton that comes in on a roll from a mill in Coimbatore. I know people get cagey about Indian manufacturing but I've been to enough job sites to know that the paperwork and the reality are two different things, and Terry had audit reports going back four years. The weave has a slight texture to it, nothing rough, just enough that you can feel the difference from the cheap stuff. I ordered a trial run of 200 metres in March and had the first batch of swaddles cut and finished by mid-month.
What I hadn't expected was how much the weight change would matter to new parents. I had two families from the Kiama area who'd bought earlier versions of the Koala Cuddle Swaddle and both of them messaged me within a week of getting the new stock. One mum said it was the first swaddle that didn't feel like it was going to either suffocate her kid or fall apart in the wash. That's about as good a product review as I know how to get. The wash test was my own benchmark anyway, I put every new fabric through ten cycles before I'll sell it.
Terry and I are now on a 90-day replenishment schedule, which suits both of us. He gets a predictable order and I get fabric without the white-knuckle wait. It's not a complicated arrangement. That's probably why it's working.
Tummy time tips that come from watching real babies
The Bondi Beach Tummy Time Pillow works better than I expected, but only if you're not rushing the session and the floor is actually warm enough.
I'm not a paediatric nurse and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. What I can tell you is that over the past year I've had a fair few parents come back to me with questions about the Bondi Beach Tummy Time Pillow, mostly around how long to use it and what position actually makes a difference. I started keeping notes in July after the fourth or fifth similar question in a week. What came out of those conversations was pretty consistent: most parents were doing sessions that were either too long or too short, and a lot of them were starting on cold floors.
Tummy time works better when the baby is warm and not just fed. Every parent who reported a good session mentioned the same thing: they'd waited at least 30 minutes after a feed and they'd either warmed the pillow briefly with a heat pack or done it on carpet rather than floorboards. The Outback Adventure Play Mat pairs well with the tummy time pillow for exactly this reason. The mat has enough padding to buffer the cold that comes up through a tiled or timber floor, and in a Kiama winter, even July mornings in an old weatherboard house, that floor temperature matters more than people think.
The pillow itself sits at about 8 centimetres of loft when it's new, which positions a baby's chest just high enough to take the shoulder strain off without letting them sink into it. I tested the loft at 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months of regular use on my own samples and it held at 7.5 centimetres through all of that. The cover is removable and machine washable, which I insisted on from the start because I knew from my old trade days that anything that can't be cleaned properly won't stay in a house with a baby for long.
The sessions that seem to work best are short and frequent: three to five minutes, four or five times across the day, rather than one long stretch. A few parents had been trying to do one 20-minute session and wondering why the baby was upset by minute eight. The pillow doesn't fix a reluctant baby, nothing does, but it does take the hard edge off the position. One dad from Shellharbour told me his son went from screaming at 90 seconds to tolerating five minutes within a fortnight of switching to shorter, more regular sessions.
I'm not going to claim credit for that. The parents did the work. I just made something that didn't add to the problem.
What cutting 60 play mats in a week actually looks like
The Outback Adventure Play Mat production run in October was the biggest single batch I'd done, and it showed me exactly where my process had gaps.
October was a big month. I'd taken a larger pre-order than usual for the Outback Adventure Play Mat, partly because I'd finally sorted the print registration on the kangaroo and wombat panel that had been slightly off since the second run. The corrected version came out of the printer in Wollongong looking right for the first time, and I made the mistake of feeling confident and taking 60 units in pre-orders over a three-week period. I have a shed behind the house in Kiama that I've set up as a cutting and finishing space, about 28 square metres, which sounds fine until you have 60 mats staged in various states of completion.
The cutting is the part most people don't think about. I use a rotary cutter and a 1.2-metre steel rule on a self-healing mat. It's the same basic setup I used for marking out sheeting on carpentry jobs, just scaled down. Each play mat takes me about 14 minutes to cut, square, and check the corners. Multiply that by 60 and you've got a full 14-hour day just in cutting before you've touched the binding. I brought in my neighbour's daughter, Priya, who does upholstery work out of her place in Jamberoo, to handle the binding runs on her industrial machine. Without her I would have been a week behind.
The binding material is a cotton twill tape I source from a notions supplier in Surry Hills. I've tried three alternatives over the past two years and kept coming back to this one because it doesn't pucker at the corners when it goes through a domestic machine, and it holds colour through washing without going grey. The Outback Adventure Play Mat has a specific ochre and dusty green colourway that I wanted to match in the binding, which meant a custom dye lot. The minimum order for that was 50 metres, which I now have sitting on a shelf in the shed for the next run.
What the October batch taught me is that I need a dedicated staging table. I was using two sawhorses and a sheet of plywood, which works fine for 20 units but becomes a liability at 60. Things slide, corners get knocked, and I spent probably 40 minutes across the week just re-squaring mats that had been nudged out of alignment. I've already ordered a proper workbench top from a timber place in Nowra. It's nothing fancy, just a flat, solid surface that doesn't flex. That's all I need.
The last of the 60 shipped out of Kiama post office on the 31st of October, one day before I'd promised. I'll call that a pass, not a win. A win would have been a week earlier.
Selling a wombat plush toy through a Kiama summer
December and January were the busiest two months I'd had since starting Manly Wares, and I learned more about my own limits than I expected.
Summer in Kiama is a different world to the rest of the year. The blowhole carpark fills up by 9am, the caravan park on Blowhole Point Road is booked solid, and everyone who drove down from Sydney for the week seems to discover our website at the same time. I wasn't fully prepared for what that meant for the Wombat Plush Toy in December. I'd stocked 85 units going into the Christmas period based on the previous year's numbers, which I thought was conservative. I was sold out by December 19th and had to put up a waitlist.
The Wombat Plush is 28 centimetres seated, which makes it the right size for a toddler to carry around without it becoming a tripping hazard. That specific sizing was something I'd thought hard about when I first designed it, mostly because I'd watched my sister's kid drag an oversized stuffed animal around a job site once and it was genuinely dangerous. The filling is a polyester fibre that holds its shape after washing, which I'd tested by putting a sample unit through 15 wash cycles in a front loader before I committed to the design. The eyes are embroidered, not plastic, because I wasn't going to put anything on a kid's toy that could come loose.
The waitlist from December ran to 34 names by Christmas Eve. I emailed every one of them personally on the 23rd to let them know what the situation was and give them an honest date. I said mid-January. The stock arrived from the manufacturer in Guangzhou on January 9th, I had it checked and dispatched by January 14th, and not one person on the waitlist cancelled. I was half expecting a few to drop off over the holidays but they didn't. That either means the toy is actually what people want, or they'd already told their kid it was coming and couldn't back out.
The summer heat in the shed was its own problem. I don't have air conditioning in the cutting space and we had three days over 36 degrees in the first week of January. I was doing all the dispatch work in the early morning before 8am and again after 6pm, which is a rhythm I'd fallen into doing outdoor electrical work years ago in Queensland. You learn to work around the heat rather than through it. The post office at Kiama runs a good local parcel service and the staff there have been patient with my volume during the peak weeks.
I've already ordered 120 Wombat Plush units for Christmas 2025. That might be too many. It might not be enough. Either way, I'm not spending another December 19th sending apology emails.
Customer reviews
Sarah M. — Newtown, NSW — 2024-03-14 — 5/5
Exactly what I needed for the baby shower
Ordered the Koala Cuddle Swaddle as a gift and it showed up two days after I placed the order, which I wasn't expecting at all. The fabric is soft and the size is generous — my friend's newborn is already using it daily. Will be back for more.
James R. — Brunswick, VIC — 2024-05-22 — 4/5
Good play mat, took a bit to arrive
The Outback Adventure Play Mat is well made and our nine-month-old loves the colours. Shipping to Melbourne took about six business days on standard, so just factor that in if you need it quickly. No complaints about the product itself though.
Priya K. — West End, QLD — 2024-07-08 — 5/5
Tummy time sorted
Bought the Bondi Beach Tummy Time Pillow after seeing it recommended in a local parents' group. Arrived well-packaged and faster than I expected for a Queensland delivery. My daughter is three months old and she's already spending more time on her tummy — the pillow holds its shape well.
Tom H. — Fremantle, WA — 2024-09-03 — 4/5
Nice toy, WA delivery was fine
The Wombat Plush Toy is a solid size for the price and feels durable — my toddler has already put it through its paces. Delivery to Fremantle took seven business days on standard, which is about what I expected. Would have given five stars if there was an express option shown more clearly at checkout.
Chloe B. — Fitzroy, VIC — 2024-11-19 — 5/5
The mobile is beautiful
We hung the Dreamtime Cot Mobile above our son's cot and he is completely fixated on it. It was easy to assemble and feels sturdy — nothing flimsy about it. Ordered on a Tuesday and it was on our doorstep by Thursday. Really happy.
Rachel O. — Surry Hills, NSW — 2025-01-11 — 5/5
Great experience start to finish
I emailed before ordering to ask about the swaddle sizing and got a reply from Leonid within a couple of hours — that kind of response is rare. The Koala Cuddle Swaddle arrived the next day on express and it's exactly as described. Buying again for a friend's baby due in March.
Daniel F. — Norwood, SA — 2025-02-27 — 4/5
Good quality, packaging was solid
Ordered the Outback Adventure Play Mat and it came wrapped properly — no corners bent or anything like that. The mat is thick enough that it actually cushions falls on our timber floor. Took five days to reach Adelaide, which was fine.
Mei L. — St Kilda, VIC — 2025-04-05 — 5/5
Went back for a second order
Already had the play mat and decided to grab the Wombat Plush Toy to go with it. Second order was just as smooth as the first — arrived in two business days on express shipping. My daughter carries that wombat everywhere now.
Shipping
We ship Australia-wide from our workshop in Kiama, NSW. Standard orders go out via Australia Post and typically arrive within 3–8 business days. Metro areas in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane are usually at the lower end of that range, while regional Queensland, WA, NT, and Tasmania can take closer to 7–8 business days. If you need something sooner, express shipping via StarTrack is available at checkout and delivers within 1–3 business days to most Australian capitals and major regional centres. Orders placed before 2pm AEST Monday to Friday are dispatched the same day. Orders placed after that cut-off or on weekends go out the next business day.
Standard shipping is free on all orders over $75. For orders under that, a flat standard shipping rate applies and is shown at checkout before you confirm your order. Express shipping is a separate flat rate regardless of order size. All prices shown on our website include GST — there are no surprise charges added at checkout. Once your order is dispatched, you'll receive a tracking number by email so you can follow it through to delivery. We use plain, sturdy outer packaging to protect products in transit, and we include a packing slip inside each parcel.
If your order arrives damaged, please take photos of the packaging and the item before doing anything else, then contact us at hello@manlywares.com.au within 48 hours of delivery. We'll arrange a replacement or refund depending on what works best for you. We lodge claims directly with the carrier on your behalf, so you don't have to deal with that side of things. For orders going to PO boxes, we use Australia Post only — StarTrack cannot deliver to PO boxes. If you have any questions about delivery to a specific address or region, just reach out before placing your order.
Returns
If you're not happy with your purchase, you can return it within 30 days of the delivery date. To be eligible for a change-of-mind return, the item needs to be unused, unwashed, and in its original packaging with any tags still attached. To start a return, email us at hello@manlywares.com.au with your order number and a brief explanation. We'll send you return instructions and a return address. Return postage costs for change-of-mind returns are the responsibility of the customer. We recommend using a trackable service, as we can't take responsibility for parcels that don't make it back to us.
Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law are separate from our change-of-mind policy and are not limited by the 30-day window. If a product is faulty, not fit for its described purpose, or doesn't match how it was represented on our website, you're entitled to a remedy under the Australian Consumer Law — this may be a repair, replacement, or refund depending on whether the issue is considered major or minor. In these cases, we cover return postage. Please contact us as soon as you notice a problem and we'll sort it out without making it difficult for you.
Once we receive and inspect your return, we'll process your refund within 5 business days. Refunds go back to the original payment method — credit card refunds can take a further 3–5 business days to appear depending on your bank. We don't issue store credit unless you specifically request it. The following are excluded from our change-of-mind returns policy: items marked as sale or clearance at the time of purchase, personalised or custom orders, and any items returned outside the 30-day window. If you're unsure whether your situation qualifies, just email us and we'll give you a straight answer.