Event
“We’re proud to have supported an ethical and transparent local industry for nearly 25 years.”
Ethical Clothing Australia Week 2024 kicked off on Thursday, 3 October, with an exclusive industry event in Collingwood, Melbourne. Here’s a wrap-up of the night!
A year of growth and new initiatives
“It’s been a busy 12 months for Ethical Clothing Australia,” said National Manager Rachel Reilly as she welcomed nearly 50 guests representing many sectors of the local textile, clothing, and footwear industry. The audience included workers, outworkers, State and Local Government representatives, accredited businesses, and leaders from both the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association.
“Our team has doubled in size, now employing 11 people across three states. We’re excited to see our community grow, with more accredited businesses across New South Wales, Queensland, and beyond.”
Rachel shared updates on the launch of the Victorian Women’s Leadership Network and new capacity-building workshops for accredited businesses, supported by funding from the Victorian Department of Jobs, Skills, Industries and Regions.
Rachel Reilly, Ethical Clothing Australia’s National Manager addressing guests at Ethical Clothing Australia Week 2024 launch event in Melbourne
“We’re talking to governments and businesses about adopting ethical procurement policies for uniforms and PPE.”
— Rachel Reilly, Ethical Clothing Australia
Strategic planning for a strong future
With support from the Australian Government, specifically the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, the Homeworker Code Committee developed a five-year strategic plan to guide Ethical Clothing Australia’s growth. The plan outlines ways to advocate for ethical procurement practices, both in government and the private sector, to strengthen our industry.
“We’re talking to governments and businesses about adopting ethical procurement policies for uniforms and PPE,” Rachel said. “We hope to have big updates next year.”
“We’ve been fortunate this year to receive funding from the Victorian Department of Jobs, Skills, Industries and Regions, and that enabled us to implement two new programs for our community of accredited businesses: our Victorian Women’s Leadership Network and a series of capacity building workshops to support accredited businesses of all sizes across various areas such as procurement, marketing and branding.
“We have been doing advocacy work in New South Wales, and we have also been speaking to the Queensland Government and the Australian Government about the importance of adopting ethical procurement policies for their TCF products,” she shared.
“We’ve also been having chats to the private sector about how they might be able to support the local industry through their own procurement of uniforms and PPE – I’m hoping we might have some bigger updates on that next year.”
Rachel also shared results from Ethical Clothing Australia’s first customer satisfaction survey, which asked for feedback from our community of accredited brands and manufacturers.
“You said that you want to see a lot more promotion and marketing of the program, so that is exactly what we’re going to be doing. You’ll be seeing us around a lot more,” she said.
Ms Thi, an outworker from Victoria’s TCF industry, shared her story in her first language of Vietnamese with translation by Nguyet Nguyen from the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union
“I am happy to know that people can now, with the Union’s help, get paid correctly and paid their entitlements”
— Ms. Thi, an outworker from Victoria's TCF industry
Centering workers
Rachel emphasised Ethical Clothing Australia’s mission to create real impacts on workers’ lives and the local industry. Guests also heard from Ms. Thi, an outworker from Victoria, who shared her powerful journey from Vietnam to working in Australia’s TCF industry. Speaking in Vietnamese, with translation by Nguyet Nguyen from the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union, Ms. Thi highlighted the impact of Ethical Clothing Australia and the Union’s support in helping workers receive fair treatment.
“I grew up in Vietnam, I learned to sew at the age of 17. I fled Vietnam with my family in 1982 and we arrived in Malaysia in a refugee camp. We were lucky that the Australian embassy came and interviewed us and accepted us to come to Australia,” said Ms Thi.
“My first job in Australia was sewing in a clothing factory and when I had my third child I decided to work from home. I got my license and my machinery to work from home because I could not afford to put my children in childcare.
“I started working from home with very long hours. I had no weekends off and no holidays off. In the morning, I would get the children ready for school and then often work until midnight.
“Until in 2007, I was really lucky. I got accepted to a patternmaking course that the TCF Union organised at RMIT. At that time, I met with the Union and other outworkers, and it opened my eyes – I had been ripped off for many, many years and had not been paid my other entitlements.
“Even though I did not get those entitlements I am happy to know that people can now, with the Union’s help, get paid correctly and paid their entitlements.
“Thank you for helping the outworkers, please continue helping the outworkers,” said Ms Thi as she finished her speech.
Sharon and David Hamilton, CEO & Managing Director from accredited brand and manufacturer Fella Hamilton
“We take great pride in accreditation, and we hope that many other local manufacturers will follow suit.”
— Sharon Hamilton, Managing Director Fella Hamilton
Privileged and proud to be accredited
Sharon and David Hamilton, CEO & Managing Director from accredited brand and manufacturer Fella Hamilton, which has been accredited since 2020, shared their story as they mark their 55th year in business and what it means to them be an accredited brand and manufacturer.
“We feel very privileged and proud that we are accredited with Ethical Clothing Australia,” said Sharon.
“We can proudly say to our customers and our staff that all our products that we produce in Australia are accredited and all our subcontractors are checked by Ethical Clothing Australia and paid correctly and have their correct rights – and it’s a great feeling. We take great pride in accreditation, and we hope that many other local manufacturers will follow suit.”
Top L-R: Wilhelmina Stracke, Assistant Secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council; Shawn Mitchell, Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association; Jenny Kruschel, TCF National Secretary within the Manufacturing Division of the CFMEU; BBeth Macpherson, National Compliance Officer Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union; Rachel Reilly; Henry May, Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association
Above: Jenny Kruschel addressing guests
“If you go around the world…this is a model that other countries would love to have, where the Union and companies work together, where the workers have a real voice.”
— Jenny Kruschel, TCF National Secretary in the manufacturing division of the CFMEU
A voice for workers
Closing the night’s speeches was Jenny Kruschel, who currently holds the position of TCF National Secretary within the Manufacturing Division of the CFMEU. Jenny is also a Director of Skills Insight’s Jobs and Skills Council, an Executive Member of IndustriALL, and a Member of the Home Workers Code Committee (Ethical Clothing Australia). With her extensive experience in the industry, Jenny reflected on where Ethical Clothing Australia’s program sits globally.
“I want to put it in the context: If you go around the world…this is a model that other countries would love to have, where the Union and companies work together, where the workers have a real voice,” she said.
“Because unless workers have a voice, they really have no way of fixing their issues.”
Jenny left the guests with a powerful call to action.
“We need to say to consumers that if you see the ECA swing tag you can buy a garment safely, knowing that the workers have been paid properly, treated with respect, and they had some dignity in their workplace. We all have work to do to say to people that if you are going to buy a garment, it’s important that you buy a garment where the workers have been treated properly.”
Accredited businesses on show!
An exhibition of accredited items – everything from socks and belts to wedding dresses and protective garments from megsmithmakes, Clothing the Gaps, Fella Hamilton, Denimsmith, Buckle, Lenka Couture, Humphrey Law, Hellweg, Stewart and Heaton, Bluegum, plus pattern pieces from RB Patterns, was a testament to the wide-ranging capabilities of our amazing ethical and local textile, clothing and footwear industry.
A celebration of the people who make our clothes
The event also featured a sneak peek of some of the incredible Worker Stories featuring in a social media campaign released during Ethical Clothing Australia Week 2024.
We were so grateful to Paula, Suze, Michelle, Chatcha, Tahni, Maggie, Erin, Maria, Bleh Wah, Rachel and Holly and outworkers in New South Wales and South Australia for sharing their stories with us and it was a privilege to create a space for these extraordinary people to be acknowledged and celebrated!
Finally, a full wall of the venue showed an installation of over 3000 paper dolls, representing the thousands of workers across Australia who are protected by the Ethical Clothing Australia accreditation program. The dolls were colour coded according to states (black for Victoria and New South Wales), white for Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia and blue for Tasmania and the Northern Territory). Importantly 77% of the dolls were represented as women (shown using feminine hairstyles and clothing) to represent the highly gendered Australian TCF industry.
Woven into the fabric of the local industry
Rachel Reilly closed by acknowledging the many people who are part of Ethical Clothing Australia’s multistakeholder approach and celebrated the essential and ongoing part the organisation plays in Australia’s TCF industry.
“I want to extend an enormous thank you to the workers, the Union that is on the ground doing the work and the businesses that have signed up and continue to contribute to the local and ethical industry that we have,” she said.
“We are proud to have underpinned that ethical and transparent local industry for nearly 25 years, with next year marking our 25th anniversary, which is enormous. Ultimately, the strategic plan that’s been developed, and all the work that sits behind it, will ensure Ethical Clothing Australia continues to be woven into the fabric of the Australian textile clothing and footwear industry for the long term.”
See more photos from the Ethical Clothing Australia Week 2024 launch in Melbourne here!
This event was held at @14 Langridges. Guests enjoyed canapes from Indigenous caterer Mabu Mabu and wine from Ethical Clothing Australia Week 2024 wine partner, Minimum Wines. Thank you to photographer Tim Herbert for capturing the night.