Dust and Bullets Western has been named a finalist in the Australian Small Business Champion Awards in the new retail business section.

The small family business has been at Stockland Green Hills since April 2023, and sells a range of western apparel including work shirts, t shirts, football style shorts, kids clothes and accessories.

In 2021 Abby, who attended school at St Mary's Maitland, took some time away from her mining job to recover from a leg operation.

During this time, inspiration struck and she began designing, printing them on t shirts and selling them online.

Before long demand outgrew what Abby and her trusty Cricut machine could do on their own, so the business expanded.

Now, Abby has a successful online store, the Green Hills store and a warehouse in Singleton.

Abby said it feels like a huge deal to be a finalist for the award.

"I have put in all this hard work and it's recognition, we've been growing at such a rapid pace but to do that it's not easy," she said.

"Before I had Parker I was working full time in mining and doing this, and now I'm a full time mum and doing this, and it's the late nights staying up and getting our marketing right, and designing, and tailoring and all that sort of stuff.

"It's just that little recognition that being a business owner isn't just the sales, it's everything else that goes on that brings it all together."

Having grown up rurally, making western apparel just made sense for Abby.

"It's our lifestyle, we grew up on a farm, we have cattle and I think that's what makes it successful; it's who we are," she said.

"What we built the brand off was our everyday life, and we'll go up and muster and I've put everyone in a [Dust and Bullets] work shirt to take photos and it'd get so much traction.

"We've never hired a model, it's all our family and friends, it's just at our house in our cattle yards. It's just us and I think that's why people connect with it because we're not trying to be something we're not, this is just who we are."

Dust and Bullets has 23,600 followers on Instagram, and Abby has built a community of customers who will detour into Maitland from far away just to visit the shop.

The team has packed more than 10,000 online orders and had more than 8000 sales at the bricks and mortar shop.

Abby's family are heavily involved with the business, from her partner James helping with all sides of the business and her mum being the store manager, to her nieces, nephews and siblings being models for the website.

Abby and James will attend the awards ceremony in Sydney on Saturday, April 13.