Meet the Designers Behind HEY REFLECT'O

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Meet the Maker
Lisa Penney is an Adelaide-born and bred designer and environmentalist, and the creator of Hey Reflect’o.

It all began with Lisa on the kitchen floor, messing about with paper patterns and fluoro material. It took one month to create all of the initial designs and to sew up the fluoro vests, but a little longer to refine the process and make them even more perfecto.

Lisa took the idea to local Adelaide printers where she introduced them to fabulous fluorescent printing. They hadn’t known it existed but were willing to give it a go. The new technique proved to be complicated, taking over six months to set up and a further six to perfect. However, her vests are now able be produced in almost no time at all.

*Hey Reflect’o has expanded their designs from fluoro vests to backpacks and helmet covers*

*Lisa transports her garments by pushbike to limit the carbon emissions that her business creates*

Collaborating with Leading Artists
Lisa frequently travels to the factory on her retro single-speed bicycle, which has a bike trailer attached and transports all the material back to her studio where she applies the reflective artwork by hand. Increasingly, Lisa is collaborating with leading local artists from diverse backgrounds, including Agata Rybicka, Tom Borgas and Sarie Tardif, to create new and exciting designs. These designs feature everything from gum nuts to gelato, confetti to clouds – there is something for everyone at Hey Reflect’o.

100% Australian and Ethically Made
After a small time of being half made in Bali and half made in Australia (so they could be more affordable), Reflect’o is back to being made 100% in Australia. Lisa wanted to cut down on the carbon footprint that manufacturing and freight creates. Being locally made means she’s cycling around Adelaide to see the printers and the tailors, limiting the business’ carbon emissions significantly. Also, the Reflect’o garments are now made from recycled plastic bottles and from Hemp/Organic Cotton. While she’s always striving to improve her products’ functionality, making them as environmentally responsibly as possible is critical.

Her passion for cycling and for keeping cyclists safe on our roads is grounded in her environmentalism and it is important to Lisa that her brand is underpinned by these same values. “If we are to confront climate change, we have to begin to transition to a zero-carbon society and if I can play any part, no matter how small, in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, then it makes all the hard work worth it.” she says.