It has been five years since Australian designer Bianca Spender teamed up with fashion enterprise The Social Outfit. Every year, the pair host an annual Wear The Change fundraiser and ethical fashion styling challenge.
The challenge this year encouraged Australians to wear one garment in five different ways over five days during Refugee Week.
According to partnership and development manager Kate Clugston, The Social Outfit meets refugee women where they are via outreach community programs to build their skills towards employment.
“Many of the women we meet are experienced sewers and tailors from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria however, they may have never worked on an industrial machine before,” Clugston said.
“We start by assessing their skills in a community class on domestic machines and progressing them through to training courses for employment here in the Australian fashion industry.”
As part of the partnership, Bianca Spender donates fabric to The Social Outfit every year and takes on the role of spokesperson at its events.
Spender says refugees have a vital role to play in tackling the current skills shortage in local Australian fashion production
“It is so exciting to have The Social Outfit as a feeder program to build skills within refugees in our local industry, providing training and skills to be a part of the fashion manufacturing and production capacity in Australia,” she says.
“Currently within the Bianca Spender brand, we have one sample machinist who we have worked with for over 10 years, and this was her first job in the fashion industry when she arrived in Australia from Vietnam.
“It is fantastic to have The Social Outfit as a resource for future opportunity within this space.”
According to Spender, specialist skills that require bespoke equipment - such as pleating and full-fashioned knitwear - are in short supply in Australia. She says there is only one pleater remaining in Sydney, run by a husband and wife, with very few possibilities to produce technical knitwear in Australia.
“The Australian government has recently added sewing as an in-demand skill for immigration. I believe seeing this in action will help to promote education and job placement.
“The average age of a machinist is nearing retirement, based on the current waves of migration which is leading to a deep skills shortage. It is important to look at the next wave of refugees to support production within the fashion industry.”
Clugston says that it has started receiving numerous inquiries from industry partners seeking sample makers. From this, The Social Outfit approached TAFE last year to co-design and deliver industrial and sewing machine training in partnership with Career Pathways & Employment Skills (CPES).
“This course was a missing piece in the training eco-system, which now trains sewers to specialise in sample making for employment,” Clugston says. “We also deliver this training program side by side with our manufacturing team in-studio at Marrickville.
“A number of the women who did this course with us have since gone on to our ‘Earn and Learn Programs’ to earn their first Australian income with us. Two women have started their own businesses, two have gone on to continue TAFE and one of them now works with us here at The Social Outfit.”
Meanwhile, Spender says the rekindling of Australia’s local skilled workforce in the fashion sector can also impact the growing sustainability issue.
“There are a number of components that go into fashion circularity, from the design through to the consumer, end use and lifecycle, however producing locally in Australia reduces carbon emissions and ensures limited runs, ultimately reducing environmental waste.
“There is also an opportunity to look at the recycling and repair of garments locally, facilitated by a refugee community with technical sewing skills.”