Why We Made Straptor: The Australian-Owned Sports Tape Story

Straptor started with a conversation in a club change room, not a boardroom. Local trainers and coaches kept telling us the same thing: they wanted sports tape they could count on, at a price that worked across a full squad, from a business they could actually get on the phone. We already ran a family first aid supply business in Bendigo, so we listened, and we built Straptor to answer it. That is the short version of why an Australian-owned sports tape brand exists at 205 Murphy Street, East Bendigo.

I am Kim Hando, and Straptor is ours. This is the honest account of who we are, what we stock, and what you get when you back a real local business instead of a name with no address behind it.

Why we started Straptor

We did not set out to add another tape to a crowded shelf. We set it up because the clubs and trainers we already supplied through our first aid business asked for a tape range that held up on a Saturday and did not blow the season budget. When the same request comes from enough people who strap ankles every week, you take it seriously.

Straptor became a standalone brand so that tape, and the people who rely on it, get proper attention rather than sitting as an afterthought in a wider catalogue. Everything since has come back to that first brief from the sideline.

The family behind the brand

Straptor is run by the Hando family through Australian First Aid Distributions, our Bendigo business. It is not a marketing front. There is a real address, a real phone number, and real people who answer it.

I come to this from more than thirty years in nursing, much of it in operating theatre and acute care as a Division 1 registered nurse. That background shapes how I think about anything we put our name on: it either meets the standard or it does not go out. You can read more about my background on my author page, Kim Hando.

What an Australian-owned sports tape brand means for you

Australian-owned means the business you are buying from is here, run by people who live and work in regional Victoria and answer to the clubs they supply. Decisions about the range, the pricing and the service are made locally, not signed off somewhere you will never reach.

We are careful with how we describe this, because it matters. We call Straptor Australian-owned because that is the claim we can stand behind fully. When you back an Australian-owned sports tape brand, you are backing a business you can hold accountable, and that is the point of the whole thing.

What clubs and trainers told us they needed

The wishlist was not complicated. Tape that holds through a full game and does not lift by half-time. A price that makes sense when you are kitting out juniors and seniors across a season. Stock that is there when pre-season starts, not three weeks after it.

None of that is glamorous, and all of it is what actually gets used on a Saturday. We built the range and the service around those three things.

How we choose and check every tape in the range

We do not stock a tape until it has earned its place. Each product in the range is selected against the way it is going to be used, then checked before it carries our name, because the standard I learned in theatre does not switch off at the shop door.

If a tape does not perform the way a trainer needs it to, it does not stay. That is easier to promise when the people making the call are the people whose name is on the box.

From our Bendigo shopfront to clubs across the country

There are two ways to buy Straptor. You can walk into our shopfront at 205 Murphy Street, East Bendigo, and pick it up over the counter, which plenty of local clubs still do. Or you can order online and we send it out by national delivery, so a club in another state gets the same tape as a club down the road from us.

Distance does not change the product or the price. It is the same range and the same support wherever you are.

The Straptor range at a glance

The range covers what a trainer's kit actually needs across a season:

• Rigid strapping tape for firm joint support where you want to limit movement.
• Elastic adhesive bandage (EAB) for support that still allows some give.
• Pre-wrap to protect skin under rigid tape.
• Cohesive bandage that sticks to itself, not to skin or hair.
• Adhesive spray to help tape hold on sweaty or awkward areas.
• Scissors and tools for clean removal and quick work in the change room.

If you want the detail on the rigid options and how they differ, our Australian-owned strapping tape page lays it out, or you can shop the full Straptor range in one place.

What backing an Australian-owned brand gets you

You get a business you can reach. When a club has a question about an order, or a trainer wants to know which tape suits a job, there is a phone number that a person answers: 03 5443 2239. Support for clubs, trainers, physios and schools is part of what we sell, not an extra.

You also get accountability. If something is not right, you are dealing with the people who run the brand, in the same country and often the same time zone. That is the difference between a local business and a logo.

When to see a physiotherapist

Tape is support, not treatment. It can help a joint feel more stable and get an athlete through a session, but it does not fix an injury and it is not a substitute for proper assessment. If pain, swelling or a niggle is not settling, or an injury is getting in the way of normal training, that is a physiotherapist conversation. For the technique side of things, our guides walk through the method, including how to tape an ankle.

Frequently asked questions

Is Straptor an Australian-owned business?
Yes. Straptor is owned and run by the Hando family through Australian First Aid Distributions, based at 205 Murphy Street, East Bendigo, Victoria.

Where can I buy Straptor tape?
You can buy in person at our East Bendigo shopfront, or order online for national delivery anywhere in the country.

Who is behind Straptor?
Kim Hando and the Hando family. Kim is a Division 1 registered nurse with more than thirty years in nursing, and those standards carry into how the range is chosen and checked.

Does Straptor supply clubs and schools?
Yes. We supply clubs, trainers, physios and schools, and you can talk to us directly on 03 5443 2239 about an order.

Related articles

• The Straptor rigid strapping tape range
• Shop the full Straptor range
• The tape types in our range and what each one does