In this NAIDOC Week Special, Ragtrader shows how the fashion industry is supporting First Nations culture and community through collaborations, events and storytelling.
The philanthropic arm of Australian fashion retailer Cotton On Group has shared its support for another First Nations organisation: the Common Ground collective.
This adds to a list of First Nations groups that the Cotton On Foundation is currently supporting.
The Common Ground collective offers platforms for First Nations voices with diverse lived experiences. The group facilitates opportunities for capacity-building and skill-sharing across all storytelling mediums.
“For First Nations people, storytelling is more than words,” Cotton On shared on its website. “It is a responsibility, passed down through generations. When our stories are held with care and shared with respect, they have the power to strengthen communities and create lasting change.
“Common Ground builds on existing community power to strengthen the stories we tell ourselves and others, so we can reimagine stronger futures. Futures that centre First Nations people, Country and truth-telling in everything.”
There are six other organisations that the Cotton On Foundation supports. Over the last few years, the foundation has raised over $5.8 million to support its First Nations partners, with funding raised through the sales of specific products.
The other organisations that Cotton On supports include a Learning on Country program at Yirrkala School, facilitated by Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation. This brings together students, senior Yolŋu Elders, rangers, vocational education trainers, and teachers, to work together on Country and share Yolŋu knowledge and traditions.
The foundation also funds the Mulka Project, which is a production house, recording studio, digital learning centre and cultural archive for the Yolŋu community.
There is also the Strong Brother, Strong Sister (SBSS), an Aboriginal organisation servicing Geelong and the greater Wadawurrung area, putting on youth groups, mentoring and one-on-one counselling to help First Nations young people in the area.
Cotton On also supports Community-Based Aboriginal Teacher Education (C-BATE), a group that backs Yolŋu teachers in furthering their careers without having to leave their communities to study, as well as the Djalkiri Foundation, which helps Yolŋu people to connect to their chosen pathway, building capacity and promoting Yolŋu ways of working.
Rounding up the list of First Nations partners is Citizens of the Reef and The Reef Cooperative, which is providing opportunities for young Yirrganydji and Gunggandji Traditional Owners to obtain comprehensive skills including dive training, survey methodologies, and MARRS reef star building and management on sites on the Great Barrier Reef, as part of the Reef Intervention Training Program (RITP).
Since 2007, the Cotton On Foundation has raised more than $190 million for various projects locally in Australia and internationally.