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Caring about clients, staff, suppliers and the world we live in

Highlife cares!

Highlife is an Australian / Chinese-owned clothing sourcing agency with offices in Hong Kong, China and Australia.

We understand that caring about little things makes the big things go right, and that is our winning formula.

With this philosophy, we make a point of caring about:

  • our staff and the satisfaction they get from their jobs
  • our suppliers’ attitude towards production quality and care of their own staff
  • our clients‘ complete satisfaction with the results we bring them through delivering top quality, fairly-priced products on time.

This approach has worked well for Highlife as the company has flourished since starting out in 2013. We are proud of our staff loyalty and their long-term service, our strong network of vetted and trusted factories and we are proud to discreetly support some very major brands and businesses, as well as a large number of sports teams and events with garment supply.

In addition, our promotional products division has grown, offering a range of standard and innovative products for custom branding.

Australian / Chinese owned with offices in China, Hong Kong and Australia

Full service from concept to delivery with in-house design, QC and shipping division

Discreetly supplying well-known international brands

Owners of the Maurio, ATLAS, Perrone and Fred Stuart labels – we understand the garment business

Sponsors / owners of several sporting events

97% on-time production record

Delighting clients since 2013

Our factories

We use a network of vetted and trusted Chinese and SE Asian factories so that we can always source from the factory that best matches the project requirements. We are not limited or tied to any one factory.

Our due diligence checks include a factory audit of the facility’s organisational structure, human resource management, factory resources, performance, environmental responsibility practices and financial position.

Highlife continually checks and can provide documentation that our factories do not use child or forced labour. Employees must have the Freedom of Association, ISO 9001:2015the Right to Collective Bargaining, access to adequate Compensations and be exempt from discrimination on any basis, harsh disciplinary practices, and unreasonable working hours. Above all else, it is imperative that manufacturers provide a safe and healthy working environment for all employees.

Highlife Freight Management

To ensure timely deliveries and help manage costs, Highlife Freight Management division supports the business by arranging all logistics. The reputation of our freight management division is such that we also manage freight for other vendors shipping products from China.

Highlife and sustainability 

Factories are increasingly using green energy and manufacturing techniques, and sourcing more sustainable fabrics. We are now able to offer a range of sustainable fabrics for clients including recycled fabrics such as REPREVE  and ECOGreen as well as sustainably sourced fabrics meeting BCI (Better Cotton Initiative), GOTs (Global Organic Textile Standard) and Global Recycled Standard standards.

Sustainability logos and certifications

Highlife in the community

Highlife is proud to sponsor several sporting events, two of  which are owned and run by Highlife director Brad Tarr: The Mox Lamma International Dragon Boat Festival and Mox, The Dragon Run Hong Kong, an international paddling event.

Plastic Free Seas CharityThrough these events we are able to encourage sports, support organisations such as Plastic Free Seas with their environmental work and see our custom team wear live tested for comfort and durability. As at the end of 2024, these Highlife supported events had donated more than US$120,000 to sustainable charities.



If you’d like to learn more or you would like to request a quotation, please complete our enquiry form and let’s get the conversation started!

Send in your enquiry!

Frequently asked questions

When was Highlife founded?

Highlife Trading Company was founded in 2013 when director Brad Tarr decided to expand a custom sportswear sideline into a full time business.

At that time Brad had been working as a Hong Kong money broker for more than a decade and in his spare time co-owned and organised the Asian Cricket Sixes Tour as well as the Lamma500 International Dragon Boat Festival. As organiser Brad was increasingly called upon to source teamwear for competitors and it is from this service sideline that Highlife came into being.

At the outset Brad teamed up with co-director Xiao Qin Lu who is a highly skilled and experienced production manager and negotiator and together, with the Highlife team, they have made the company what it is today.

Is Highlife a factory or a sourcing agency?

Highlife is a sourcing agency which means we do not own any factories but instead build relationships with trusted and vetted factories providing a range of different services.

This means we are not tied to any particular factory but will always use the best factory for the client’s needs.

Who are your key personnel?

Founders and Directors
Brad Tarr
Xiao Qin Lu

Head of China Operations
Yuki Qiu

Marketing
Katie McGregor
Emily Tarr

Head of Quality Control
Dana Qiu

Head of Warehouse
Deng Yi Lan

Head of Design
Paul Lam

Freight Management
Vienna Chow

Where are your factories located?

Most factories in our network are based in southern China with some located in Indonesia and in India. These areas have a well-developed supply chain infrastructure and has good communication links for transportation. In addition, our China office is located in Shun De, Guangdong, which means that our team can easily visit the factories for checks and to maintain relationships.

How are your factories vetted?

Our due diligence checks include a physical visit to the factory by our Mandarin speaking team as well as an audit of the facility’s organisational structure, human resource management, factory resources, performance, environmental responsibility practices and financial position.

Highlife continually checks and can provide documentation that our factories do not use child or forced labour. Employees must have the Freedom of Association, the Right to Collective Bargaining, access to adequate Compensations and be exempt from discrimination on any basis, harsh disciplinary practices, and unreasonable working hours. Above all else, it is imperative that manufacturers provide a safe and healthy working environment for all employees.

What is your procedure for quality control?

We take pride in our work and your satisfaction is a top priority for us so we have procedures in place to minimise errors and ensure that you are delighted with your delivery.

Those procedures include the vetting we do of our factories, the pre-production checks and sign offs as well as the checks that are done during production and finally, the checks done by our own in-house QC team before shipping. This allows us to boast 99% satisfaction levels with our orders.