Brief Story of Origin of Stubby Cooler

Way back in 1972, Malcolm Lock had a problem. With the rising popularity of wetsuits, his company had bins and bins of neoprene off-cuts to dispose off, and all this cost him money. In his leisure time Malcolm surfed and enjoyed the odd drink or two. And whilst enjoying that drink, he'd experienced how his hand became too cold, and his beer too hot. Knowing the insulating benefits of neoprene, he set about solving the problem. In one flash of brilliance, the stubby cooler was born. In a country like Australia where we live to drink a cold beer, the benefits of the stubby cooler were soon realised. Not before long, the stubby cooler rose to such prominence that Malcolm had trouble keeping up with demand. From this original idea, a whole industry has grown; the original stubby cooler has morphed to insulate bottles, to have lay flay versions and many other configurations. None the less the simplicity and practicality of the "original stubby cooler" design lives on. Those first simple stubby coolers were plain and unprinted, but very soon, were carrying the messages of companies who wanted to promote themselves. Today, stubby coolers are printed in full color with images to promote products and services, as gift and souvenirs. Way back in 1972 when Malcolm had that original problem solving idea, there was no way he envisage the path to fame his idea would follow. As long as Australian's want to enjoy a cold beer the stubby cooler will live on. PS. Today, Malcolm is long retired from making wetsuits and stubby coolers. He is a long time acquaintance of Roger Carthew who in the tradition of that "original stubby cooler", continues to make wetsuit stubby coolers. With the benefit of hindsight, Malcolm was way ahead of his time in finding a use for material that normally went to landfill. In a world increasingly seeking to be "green" Malcolm was reusing materials to create something practical and useful more than 40 years ago.