ZIAH LANE
NO ISSUES TISSUES CEO AND FOUNDERM
ost people graduate from university
with a degree and a mountain of
student debt; Ziah Lane left with a
multimillion-dollar business idea.
For the final project of her master’s degree, she
was tasked with dreaming up an environmentally
friendly brand. Her concept was No Issues Tis-
sues – tree-free tissues and toilet paper made out
of bamboo fibres. Lane’s sustainable product
would disrupt the toilet paper industry, which
depletes 27,000 trees every day.
“The industry was begging for disruption;
it was boring and old fashioned. In Woolworths
and Coles, there wasn’t even an environmentally
friendly option in the tissue section,” explains
Lane, now 38.
The idea was so simple and the technology
existed, so Lane decided she was going to be the
one to do it. Without any previous manufacturing
experience, she found a supplier in China and
created a prototype. In 2015, No Issues Tissues
landed in Woolworths and Harris Farm. “It was
exhilarating to see the product on the shelves and
people buying it,” says Lane, who bought herself a
box just so she could look at it on the docket.
This year, No Issues Tissues is expected to
turn over $2 million and is expanding into the
Hong Kong market. It’s a dream come true for
Lane, who says, “You can actually do anything if
you believe in it enough.”marieclaire.com.au 195PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER BREW-BEVAN AT WORK AGENCY. HAIR AND
MAKE-UP BY STEPH LAI AT RELOAD AGENCY. TEXT BY ALLEY PASCOE.
@WORK