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ECA Week Worker Story: Simone from A.BCH

By 19 September 2022September 26th, 2022Worker Stories
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ECA Week Worker Story: Simone from A.BCH

This is a featured post written by Simone from A.BCH, an Ethical Clothing Australia accredited brand.

My name is Simone and I am the Head Machinist at A.BCH. My job involves manufacturing all the garments we make in-house, including all of our custom pieces. I also do sampling of new styles and some repairs by hand. I enjoy problem solving and figuring out the best way to achieve the results that Courtney (the Founder and Director of A.BCH) wants for the garments.

I started sewing as a teenager and I always loved the idea of being a garment technician.

Simone, Head Machinist at A.BCH

I was born in Toronto, Canada and moved to the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne in 1997. I started sewing as a teenager and I always loved the idea of being a garment technician. Something about following instructions and finishing something perfectly has always been really satisfying to me. After a lot of trial and error at uni, I finally finished my Bachelor of Fashion Design at RMIT in 2018. However, working as a machinist wasn’t really promoted as a goal at uni, so I didn’t seek out a position right away.

I started out doing a lot of freelance work, from pattern making, to textile design, to working as casual machinist doing small runs for local brands. I started working at A.BCH just over a year ago.

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I learnt a lot about industry standards of sewing while at uni, but I had a really great knowledge base from Judy, who was my beautiful sewing teacher of many years. All the best tips and tricks that I’ve learned are from machinists, tailors, and anyone I could convince to teach me about whatever they were doing at the time. The rest is practice, practice, practice, trial, error, another error, and you can find a tutorial for almost anything on YouTube.

All the best tips and tricks that I’ve learned are from machinists, tailors, and anyone I could convince to teach me about whatever they were doing at the time.

Simone, Head Machinist at A.BCH

My current favourite piece from A.BCH is the A.38 Raw Denim Trench Coat. It is such a stunning piece, and you feel like such a boss wearing it. It’s beautifully tailored and the denim is just so lux. I love it because I could easily see it being part of my wardrobe forever.