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A Q&A with Silika from Ebony Bolts

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Image provided by Ebony Bolts
Hi Silika! Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Silika Baselala and I’m the Sew-E-O of Ebony Bolts. I grew up in Perth and now live in Melbourne, but I’ve also spent time travelling and living in England and France. 

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Image provided by Ebony Bolts
Can you tell us about your business, Ebony Bolts and how it was founded?

Growing up as a curvy six-foot-tall Fijian Australian woman in Perth in the 90’s, I was never able to find anything to wear in my shape and size that I liked. From an early age, I learned how to sew and started making my own clothes.  

I really love bold patterns and bright colours – I’m not someone who wears a lot of black or beige outfits. There are some big brands out there that have fun patterned clothing that is made overseas in poor working conditions, and in a limited size range. I knew that there is big market out there for people like me, who wanted that style in their size without the ethical issues, and that’s where Ebony Bolts was born. 

What led you to work in the textile, clothing and fashion industry in the first place?

At the very beginning of the pandemic, I started sewing fabric face masks for my family, because my sister has an autoimmune disease. I had previously sold aprons and other accessories online, so I started selling the fabric face masks too.

When COVID arrived in Australia and surgical masks started selling out, I was hit with hundreds of orders for fabric face masks overnight. I already had my online store up and running, so I was a month ahead of lots of other people making fabric masks from home. I was sewing face masks late into the morning to keep up with all the orders.   

I had always been interested in starting my own clothing label, and after I was made redundant from my job in March 2020, I had the time to think about this more seriously. I applied for the Makers and Shakers Market in 2022 and launched my label there.  

Why is it important to your business to manufacture ethically? What are the benefits? What are the challenges?

The challenge with running an ethical business is that it can be more expensive and difficult in certain ways. But really, the extra cost is only financial – I feel much better as a business owner and as a consumer knowing that an item has been made ethically. For me, it’s hard to enjoy a product of any kind when they know that someone else has been exploited in the process. 

Patternmaking and sewing are very technical skills, yet the workers in this industry are often undervalued in comparison to other forms of manufacturing. It makes me sad to think that this may be due to it being a mostly female workforce. 

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Image provided by Ebony Bolts

There is a Venn diagram between being ethically made, environmentally sustainable, having beautiful pieces and being size-inclusive, and not a lot of brands are doing all those things. My goal is to keep these pillars in mind as we grow Ebony Bolts.  

I’m committed to keeping my manufacturing onshore because I want to know exactly where people are working and what’s happening within my supply chain. Building strong relationships with local manufacturers is really important to me. 

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Ebony Bolts recently became accredited by Ethical Clothing Australia. What made you decide to get accredited in the first place?

I attended a talk run by Ethical Clothing Australia at the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre in Melbourne. I had known about Ethical Clothing Australia for quite some time but wasn’t sure what the audit process would involve. I spoke with some of the team from Ethical Clothing Australia after the talk and hearing about the audit process made everything seem much less daunting.  

I applied to be accredited and Ghet from the compliance team came and checked that my workspace for health and safety risks. It turns out it’s a very straightforward process, and everyone I met was very helpful and efficient. The whole experience was so simple, which really put my mind at ease.