Steel Blue's What a Pair campaign is raising awareness on how to perform self-checks to lead to early detection of breast cancer. The WA-owned work boot manufacturer has a long relationship with Breast Cancer Care WA, having raised more than $1.8 million for the charity over the past decade through the sale of its pink and purple boots. $10 from the sale of every pair of the fundraising boot range goes directly to Breast Cancer Care WA, an organisation that provides specialist breast care nursing, counselling and financial hardship support, free of charge.
Steel Blue is looking to add to that total in May 2023, with a special social media campaign called What A Pair.
Through the month, Steel Blue will donate an extra $5 to their breast cancer charity partner, Breast Cancer Care WA when anyone tags a friend in the dedicated What a Pair social media post, showing how to perform regular self-checks to lead to early detection.
“We all hold the early detection of breast cancer in the palm of our hands,” Ross Fitzgerald, Founding Director and Chief Sales Officer said. “Regular self-checks are the simplest way to find lumps or abnormalities that might be of concern—and everyone should be doing them, women and men, young and old.”
According to National Breast Cancer Foundation figures, about one in seven Australian women and one in 555 Australian men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. About 57 Australians are diagnosed with breast cancer every day. About three of those people will be young women (under 40).
“We know early detection of breast cancer is incredibly important, that’s why Steel Blue includes a shower tag that explains how to conduct a breast self-check in every box of our pink and purple work boots,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
Steel Blue produces a range of work boots especially for women in trades. The pink and purple boots offer a potential starting point for conversations about breast cancer awareness.
The company, which won the Business News Rise Award Business of the Year in 2022, is on track to provide $1.5 million in charitable donations to good causes, including breast cancer charities, between 2020 and 2025. In 2021, Steel Blue won the AIM Pinnacle Corporate Social Responsibility Award, donating the prize of $20,000 worth of training to Breast Cancer Care WA.
Mr Fitzgerald encourages West Australians to not only tag a friend in Steel Blue’s social media post to help raise an additional $5 for Breast Cancer Care WA, but to share Steel Blue’s self-check illustration with their friends and family, too. Every dollar donated to Breast Cancer Care WA returns $4.43 worth of social value and helps support over 1400 individuals and their families.
