Australian fashion label Alémais has partnered with the Gondwana Rainforest Trust to purchase, protect and restore 12 hectares (120,000 sqm) of land in the Dainfree Rainforest, as part of the label’s ‘Alémais Forest Project’.
The Daintree lies in Far North Queensland and is estimated to be 120 million years old. The land that Alémais purchased adjoins the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Wet Tropics, a haven for endangered plants and animals.
Within the newly bought site, 5.5 hectares will be replanted, 2 hectares left to regenerate naturally, and 4.5 hectares will be protected as a living seed bank for the future.
Alémais is focused on regenerating the rainforest with the ultimate intention of returning the land to its Indigenous Traditional Owners.
The first stages of rehabilitation have begun, with the Kuku Yalanji Rangers of the Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation engaged to plant the first 3,000 trees on site. The intention, once restoration is complete, is that the land will transition into the Pathway to Protection program – a framework that allows for the formal return of land to the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people.
Older than the Amazon in South America, the Wet Tropics that encompasses the Daintree is home to more than 3,000 plant species, hundreds of rare animals and some of the world’s most ancient flowering plants.
The Alémais Forest Project will directly protect 233 plant species found in the region, nine of which are listed as threatened with extinction.
The Gondwana Rainforest Trust plays a pivotal role in protecting the Daintree, purchasing and protecting threatened rainforest across Far North Queensland to rehabilitate land, restore habitats and ecosystems, and secure their survival into the future.
Alémais was founded in 2020 by Lesleigh Jermanus and has since scaled to selling its fashion products across more than 600 stockists globally, including over 100 in Australia and New Zealand.