The Quick Unpick Britt's List and Ethical Clothing Australia

The first episode of The Quick Unpick Podcast series is in conversation with Angela Bell, National Manager of Ethical Clothing Australia and TCF Union National Secretary Jenny Kruschel from the Manufacturing Division of the CFMEU. We recorded this episode live in line with the inaugural Ethical Clothing Australia Week and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ECA's accreditation program.
Listen in to find out if Australian made is equal to ethically made, issues garment workers face in Australia, ECA and the Union's part in ensuring garment worker rights, and where to from here for the Australian fashion manufacturing industry. 

The life cycle of every item you wear starts long before you put it on for the first time, and continues long after you wear it for the last time. It’s probably not something you’ve thought much about – and unfortunately, it’s not something every maker thinks about, either.
A.BCH is an Ethical Clothing Australia-accredited label based in Melbourne that employs circular design principles – a regenerative system in which resource input and waste, emission, and energy leakage are minimised and the full life cycle of each garment is considered.
Since its launch in 2017, A.BCH has done all its manufacturing in Melbourne, citing much greater control over production quality, minimised wastage and ability to maintain adaptive timelines as its main motivations. In this episode of The Quick Unpick, I talk to A.BCH’s Courtney Holm about creativity, transparency and accountability, and about how an ECA accreditation has helped connect her label with customers looking for ethical, Australian-made garments.

Charada Hawley couldn’t find any underwear that she liked – so she decided to make her own. The result? Jackfruit the Label, an Ethical Clothing Australia-accredited underwear brand based in Byron Bay.
Charada looks after all processes from design to dispatch, including pattern making and dying the fabric all the way through to construction of the garments.
The label is built upon the slow and ethical fashion movement and a desire to show the utmost care for the planet and their workers through minimal waste production methods. As such, all Jackfruit the Label garments are designed, dyed and constructed in house at the Byron Bay, solar powered studio.
Find out more about Charada’s process and Jackfruit the Label in this episode of The Quick Unpick.

Fashion has long been a vehicle for activism – think Vivienne Westwood in her 70s statement tees, protesters in their Black Lives Matter shirts and suffragettes burning or simply going without their bras.
In this episode of The Quick Unpick, I talk to Sarah Sheridan – the Director of Operations at Clothing the Gap – a Victorian Aboriginal owned and led social enterprise fashion label managed by health professionals. The brand says it produces merch that celebrates Aboriginal people and culture – with the aim to encourage all people to wear their values on their tee.
It might sound familiar to you. Clothing The Gap is actually a play on the words "Closing the Gap", an Australian Government health initiative to help close the life expectancy gap between Aboriginal people and non-Indigenous Australians. Clothing The Gap unites non-Indigenous and Aboriginal people through fashion and causes, one of which is to help Close the Gap.
Recently, Clothing the Gap became the first known Aboriginal-owned business to have its Australian manufacturing accredited by Ethical Clothing Australia. At the time of recording this, about 20% of the brand’s streetwear is ethically made in Australia, with the business also working on a future workwear line to be made 100% in Australia and accredited by ECA.

Manufacturing any type of fashion is a feat – but if you know anything about the fashion manufacturing scene, you’ll know that denim is especially challenging.
Nevertheless, that’s what John Condilis – the co-founder of Ethical Clothing Australia-accredited brand Nobody Denim – decided to do some 20 years ago.
Nobody Denim is an iconic Australian fashion brand that has been celebrated in Australia and around the world for its premium women’s denim since 1999.
The brand says that by manufacturing their garments locally and using their own denim factory and laundry, they keep jobs onshore and help keep the Australian textile, clothing and footwear manufacturing industry alive, employing more than 80 people. This model also allows Nobody Denim to shorten the brand’s supply chain, increase transparency and reduce travel to minimise the carbon footprint of each garment.
Nobody’s team believes that sustainable business is good business, and say that ethical manufacturing is at the heart of what they do. Listen in as I chat to John to find out what that means, and what the brand’s onshore manufacturing set up looks like – from design to dispatch.

Sustainable fashion isn’t just about the fabrics and resources that go into the garments, but the style and timelessness of the garments themselves.
The element of designing for longevity is one that Melbourne-based designer Lois McGruer-Fraser had in mind when creating her Ethical Clothing Australia-accredited brand, Lois Hazel.
Lois Hazel is a womenswear label based in Melbourne that has a relaxed and casual aesthetic to its quality Australian made pieces – influenced by Lois’s personal style and desire to wear comfortable clothing.
In this episode of The Quick Unpick, I chat to Lois about her timeless style, why sustainability matters, and her advice for new designers who want to do things the right way.