Local fashion manufacturing is facing extinction, but Philosophy Australia owner Alison Lennard – who makes all her clothes here – argues that it doesn’t have to be this way.
When I heard the news about Cue and Veronika Maine recently, my first reaction was sadness. These are significant Australian fashion names that have been part of our wardrobes for decades.
My second thought was: if the big guys are struggling even after moving away from local manufacture to chase margin, what hope do those of us making locally still have?
Only 3% of clothing sold in Australia is made here, a statistic published by the Australian Fashion Council as part of its National Manufacturing Strategy earlier this year.
I’m part of that 3%. I own and design at womenswear brand Philosophy Australia, and 100% of our garments are made in Sydney. They have been for decades, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Yes, it comes with challenges. But let’s also talk about how bloody brilliant it can be.
Speed. Agility. Flexibility. Transparency.
Around 90% of our production is made to order. I can design something, have a pattern made, sample it, fit it and move it into production within days, not months.
If something suddenly sells, we can react. If it doesn't, we haven't committed to thousands of units in advance.
For quantities under 100 units, I can make a pair of pants here quicker and often cheaper than I could offshore, where manufacturing generally relies on volume.
In an industry obsessed with speed, perhaps ironically, slow fashion allows us to move quickly — and do it with integrity.
Our garments aren't produced through an anonymous supply chain. We currently work with two cutting contractors and three manufacturing businesses across Sydney. Including their machinists and teams, that network represents around 40 people.
Many of those relationships go back at least 18 years, to when I first joined Philosophy as its designer. They're not simply suppliers. They're an extension of our team who just happen not to work inside our building.
On any given day, my team is speaking directly to cutters, machinists, and suppliers, constantly problem-solving together to improve product, efficiency, value, time and waste.
We use a method of manufacturing, where one machinist makes a garment from beginning to end rather than completing one seam repeatedly on a production line. There is pride, skill and accountability in that. When we say, “Made in Sydney, with love,” it isn't simply a marketing line. It's genuinely our story.
That's also why the fragility of the local industry worries me. Lose one manufacturer and you don't just lose one business. You potentially lose knowledge and capacity, and eventually the ecosystem becomes so small that even brands wanting to manufacture here can't.
But I don't want the Australian Made conversation to become doom and gloom, because there is enormous opportunity too.
Very recently, we were able to step in to help Australian designer Katie Perry after she unexpectedly lost access to her manufacturer.
I saw her social media post explaining what had happened and simply reached out: Can we help? Her first production run is now moving through our network.
The process starts with understanding their product, assessing whether it suits our local skills and machinery, working through patterns and samples, determining realistic quantities and then closely examining fabric, trims and manufacturing costs.
I'm also working with other brands and retailers I can't yet name who are interested in testing locally made product within their ranges. Their biggest challenge is target price.
We're exploring different models, including cut, make and trim rather than providing a fully serviced manufacturing model, and working with fabric suppliers who are also keen to make local production more commercially viable. Everyone needs to become a little more creative if we want this to work.
When we talk about reviving Australian manufacturing, the obvious conversation is investment in machinery, factories and skills. Nationally, those things matter enormously, and I've participated as a stakeholder in the Australian Fashion Council's manufacturing strategy discussions. But from where I sit, there's another issue:
We already have capacity. We need enough work to keep it working.
For Philosophy, I don't need another factory. I need consistent volume moving through the excellent manufacturers already around us. Fashion naturally has peaks and troughs. One reason we've always offered our white-label manufacturing service is to fill the quieter periods.
That keeps machinists working, cutters cutting and suppliers ordering. We don't necessarily need thousands of identical garments; we need a more consistent flow of commercially viable orders.
Of course, price remains the biggest challenge.
Fast fashion and cost-of-living pressures have distorted our perception of what clothing should cost. There are logistical limitations too. Some specialist capabilities simply don't exist here anymore – knitwear and denim, for example – or are incredibly difficult to produce locally at commercial scale.
I've learnt to stay in my lane — know what we can make here and make it exceptionally well.
So, what does a local manufacturing revival actually require?
I think it's a several-pronged approach: consumer awareness, commercially viable orders, industry collaboration, skills development and targeted government support.
People repeatedly tell us they want to support Australian Made, but they don't necessarily know which brands are making here. Our approximately 120 independent boutique stockists consistently tell us Australian Made is a genuine purchase consideration for their customers.
That's what sparked the idea for the 3% Club. Giving an identity.
There also needs to be recognition of the additional costs carried by businesses choosing to manufacture locally. We pay to be members of the Australian Fashion Council. We pay to license the Australian Made logo. We pay to participate in Seamless.
Even subsidising memberships and accreditation for businesses genuinely manufacturing here would help. Longer term and with bigger impact, we also need investment in skills, machinery and succession planning before decades of expertise disappear.
But investment alone won't solve it. Factories cannot survive on goodwill.
We need to make beautiful, relevant, quality clothes people genuinely want to buy. Being a smaller local brand gives us an advantage here because we're close to our community. We talk to our boutiques and customers every day, hear what they need and, because we manufacture locally, we can respond.
After the Cue news, I spontaneously posted that I was proud to be part of the 3% Club. The response made me realise perhaps we should create it.
I want to find the brands, manufacturers, cutters, makers, suppliers and retailers who make up that 3% and encourage us to share capacity, knowledge and opportunity.
Not to sit around complaining about how difficult Australian manufacturing is, but to collaborate, educate, innovate — and make some noise.
Because I don't want to spend my energy simply protecting 3%. I want us growing it, because if we don't nurture that 3%, it could become 2%, and eventually, none.
Shop small. Support local. Buy Australian Made – our motto is more meaningful now than ever.