In a workshop in Marrickville, 7km south-west of the Sydney CBD, a group of refugee and migrant women chat quietly as they work. The room is filled with bolts of cloth, spools of thread, clothing racks bursting with colourful garments and desks covered with sewing machines, fabric scissors and measuring tape. Fatima Sultanzi, from Afghanistan, feeds fabric into a sewing machine. Lilyrose Po, from Myanmar, is cutting out fabric patterns. Xiuyan Han, from China, is in the early stages of sewing a suit – for the Governor-General, no less.
These women work for The Social Outfit, a Sydney fashion label and social enterprise supporting refugee and migrant women to jumpstart careers in Australia. Since 2014, it has trained and employed more than 1360 women and diverted 16 tonnes of fabric from landfill. Most of the fabrics they’re working with have been donated by high-end fashion brands such as Zimmermann and Camilla and Marc, typically end-of-roll textiles – up to 20m of product – that would have otherwise been thrown away. Najia Bigzad, from Afghanistan, has a knack for sewing silks. ‘Lina’ Huan Lu, from China, enjoys working with medium- and heavy-weight fabrics such as denim. Chatcha Promchan, from Thailand, specialises in patternmaking.
“I just love being in this room,” says Kim Farrugia, product development and production manager at The Social Outfit’s Marrickville workroom. “It’s a really nice environment where people are teaching each other. They might be from different cultural backgrounds, they might have some language barriers, but it’s very powerful to see people coming together for a common cause.”
It’s hard not to be impressed by the skill in this room, partly because garment making is a declining industry in Australia. The country’s peak body for the fashion and textile industry, the Australian Fashion Council (AFC), reports that just 3 per cent of Australia’s fashion and textiles products are made in the country.
While there’s no shortage of designers in Australia, the garment-making and retail workforce has been steadily declining for decades. Each year sees a slew of Australian labels switching to offshore manufacturing in a bid to stay afloat, while other well-established brands enter liquidation or shutter their stores and move all operations online. In August last year, luxury label Dion Lee collapsed into liquidation. Two months later, retail giant Mosaic Brands – comprising Noni B, Millers, Katies, Rivers, Crossroads, Autograph, W.Lane, BeMe and Rockmans – entered voluntary administration, ultimately laying off 2500 employees and closing 650 retail stores across Australia and New Zealand. In March, Jeanswest entered voluntary administration, shuttering all 87 Australian stores and laying off more than 600 employees. Ally Fashion was also ordered into liquidation by the Federal Court. And that’s just the past 12 months.
The Social Outfit’s work as an ethical slow fashion label and social enterprise certainly gives it an edge in Australia’s fashion and retail marketplace, although it also relies on donations to run its training programs. “People who buy into our brand recognise they’re buying beyond the purchase of the garment; they’re supporting this whole enterprise,” Kim says. “I think without those donations, we would be struggling to survive, especially in the current climate of retail in Australia. A lot of bigger brands are either being sold off or downsizing. It’s a bit scary. It’s very different to the heyday of the industry, which I caught the tail-end of as I was coming out of uni 20-odd years ago.”
And yet despite this ‘retail recession’, the value of Australia’s $28 billion fashion and textile industry is growing each year and, according to the World Fashion Exchange, is forecast to reach $41.66 billion in 2032. Research published last year by public policy think tank The Australia Institute has revealed that Australia has overtaken the USA as the world’s largest consumer of textiles per capita, with the average Australian buying 56 new items of clothing a year. The average price of a garment purchased by Australian consumers was a meagre $13, compared to $40 in the UK, $30 in Japan, and $24 in the USA. For prices like that, you can thank fast fashion.
Fashion’s folly
It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact decade when ‘fast fashion’ began. In the early- to mid-20th century, a fashion label would have just two ‘seasons’ a year, releasing one collection for spring and summer, and another for winter and autumn. Then came the economic boom of the post-war period. People had more disposable income, so demand for new clothing increased. Synthetic fibres flooded the market and made textile manufacturing more cost-effective, and production was gradually outsourced overseas to take advantage of cheap labour. By the 1990s, fast fashion giants such as Forever 21 and Zara were producing some 52 ‘micro-seasons’ a year, churning out a new collection each week.
“Fast fashion is a business model that replicates high fashion designs, fashion trends, mass produces at very high and excessive volumes and then sells it at artificially low prices,” says Nina Gbor, director of the Australia Institute’s Circular Economy and Waste Program. “It uses cheaper and often synthetic materials and brings them to retail at record speed.”
In the 21st century, e-commerce has turbocharged fast fashion to new extremes. Chinese fashion behemoth Shein, for example, is thought to add between 2000 and 10,000 new items to its online store every day. In fact, Shein (and its competitor Temu) produces such an excessive volume of stock that it’s often put into a category of its own: ultra-fast fashion. And Australians just can’t get enough of it. Shein launched in Australia as recently as November 2021 but has quickly dominated the market. Last year Shein reported more than $1.23 billion in Australian sales, enjoying a year-on-year 25 per cent increase in revenue.
Nina says fast and ultra-fast fashion retailers are “obliterating” Australian fashion brands, who cannot compete with the ultra-cheap prices. What’s more, ultra-fast fashion retailers have also plagiarised the work of Australian designers, selling cheap knock-offs of their work and thereby undercutting their market.
Clearly, fast fashion’s linear production model – making a garment from virgin materials and selling it to customers who later discard it as waste – isn’t sustainable. These ultra-cheap garments have ultimately decreased the value of clothing into a disposable commodity; the Ellen MacArthur Foundation – a charity committed to eliminating waste by creating a circular economy – estimates the average garment is worn only 7–10 times before being discarded. Worse still, the Australian Circular Textiles Association estimates 30 per cent of clothing is never even sold. Australia currently disposes of more than 300,000t of textile waste per year, 200,000t of which end up in landfill. About 100,000t of primarily low-quality or unsellable garments are exported overseas to countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Malaysia, India and Vietnam, which use cheap labour to sort the clothing.
The textiles that aren’t discarded will either be sold locally or exported to second-hand markets in the Global South, one of the largest of which is Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana, which is still recovering from a devastating fire in January that destroyed many of its stalls and left two people dead. “We have too much overproduction, too much overconsumption, too much environmental degradation,” Nina says. “Fast fashion is appealing to customers because of its affordability and trendy fashion styles, but its impact is cataclysmic for the environment and for human rights.”
Mounting waste
Fast fashion’s environmental impact is wide-ranging. Globally, the fashion industry is the second-largest industrial polluter after the oil and gas sector, emitting 1.2 billion tonnes of CO₂ each year. It depletes non-renewable resources such as water and petroleum, the latter of which is used for synthetic materials such as nylon, acrylic and polyester. Today, about 60 per cent of clothing materials are made from plastic that eventually degrade and release plastic microfibres into the air and waterways. Natural fibres, such as cotton, aren’t always great either; according to the WWF, it takes 2700L of water to make just one cotton T-shirt – and that’s not taking into account the biodiversity loss impacts associated with pesticide use and land clearing needed to make potentially billions of cotton T-shirts each year.
Equally alarming is the industry’s exploitation of its overseas workforce, although working conditions vary significantly. Many workers endure extreme hours in unsafe and unhygienic conditions, earning well below a living wage – sometimes as little as a few cents per garment – which keeps them trapped in poverty. Child labour, forced labour, withheld wages and other human-rights violations can be easily obfuscated through murky supply chains. Workers are also frequently exposed to hazardous chemicals, which end up in garments bought by consumers. These chemicals – including phthalates, PFAS, bisphenols such as BPA, and other carcinogens – have been linked to health issues such as infertility, hormone disruption, skin irritation, organ dysfunction and increased cancer risk.
Reducing fast fashion consumption is an initiative that certainly won’t come from within the global fast fashion industry. And while Nina acknowledges that individual actions such as buying less clothing is important, she concedes that one consumer “is barely a drop in the ocean” compared to the titanic scale of the industry.
That means it’s ultimately up to government intervention to regulate the market by introducing policies that promote circularity and discourage fast fashion consumption – such as repairing, repurposing and recycling textiles instead of sending them to landfill. France is currently leading in this space. In June the French senate passed its anti-fast fashion legislation, which will tax ultra-fast fashion garments up to €10 per garment by 2030 and ban ultra-fast fashion advertising and promotions. This punitive legislation is the first of its kind in the world, setting a precedent that’s likely to be adopted by other countries.
Nina strongly believes Australia should follow France’s lead and tax fast fashion garments, although admits she has faced backlash for this stance during the current cost-of-living crisis. She stands her ground, noting Australia has no shortage of quality, second-hand clothing. Instead of buying brand new, she encourages people to attend a free clothes swap, buy second-hand from retailers such as Vinnies, Lifeline and Depop, or learn how to mend a garment by watching a YouTube tutorial.
But Australia’s policy in this space is still in its infancy. Our national clothing stewardship scheme, Seamless, launched in July 2024. The scheme aims to make Australia’s textile industry circular by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. Priority areas include investing in circular business and design practices; producing clothing that’s durable and recyclable; developing public education campaigns about fast fashion’s health and developing environmental impacts; and expanding infrastructure for garment collection and redistribution. Since its launch one year ago, more than 50 Australian retailers and clothing brands have become members. These fund Seamless by contributing 4c towards the scheme from each garment sold.
It’s a promising start, but Nina is reluctant to call Seamless a strategy just yet. “[Seamless] has a vision, it has ideas and targets, but no genuine, feasible, practical action plan to achieve it,” she says. That’s because dealing with the volume of textile waste in Australia will require sizeable infrastructure and a paid labour force. Drivers will be needed to transport textiles from designated collection points to warehouses where paid employees sort through and decommission them. The textiles then need to be redistributed to resellers, repair facilities, sewing schools or, if the garments aren’t reusable at all, a recycling facility. Nina is doubtful a voluntary 4c garment levy will be able to fund this. She’d like to see this levy increased to at least 50c per garment, as well as making membership mandatory for all Australian brands. She adds that Seamless membership needs to expand beyond retailers to include people working in policy, garment technology and the post-consumption space.
Boosting Australia’s nascent textile recycling capability is key to achieving circularity, yet textiles were not included in the Federal Government’s Recycling Modernisation Fund, an initiative that’s funnelling $1 billion towards expanding Australia’s paper, plastic, tyres, cardboard and glass recycling capabilities. Australia’s largest textile recycler is BlockTexx, a Queensland-based plant that has developed technology capable of separating cotton and polyester fibres. Samsara Eco, another startup in this space, recycles nylon 6,6 and polyester using plastic-eating enzymes. “There are innovations here in Australia – they just need government support and funding in order to scale,” Nina says.
Nina adds that policy could give Australian fashion brands a much-needed leg-up by providing capital, marketing and procurement support, and offering tax incentives for businesses with circular business models. The government could offer people a rebate to repair an item of clothing so it’s cheaper to mend a garment than to buy a brand-new one. Or it could fund apprenticeships in garment technology and manufacturing, especially in emerging fields such as compostable garments. “There are initiatives that could support the textiles industry here in Australia – the government just needs to take textiles a little more seriously and see the potential in it,” Nina says. “I feel like we’re leaving a lot of money and jobs on the table.”
A national strategy
In the absence of a coordinated, government-led manufacturing policy, the Australian Fashion Council, in collaboration with R. M. Williams, is developing Australia’s first-ever National Manufacturing Strategy for the textiles and fashion industry. As well as increasing Australia’s manufacturing, circular economy and advanced recycling capabilities, the strategy seeks to address national skills shortages and improve economic security in its ageing (and female-dominant) workforce, which has a median age of 57.
Jaana Quaintance-James, CEO of the AFC, says Australia’s $28 billion fashion and textile industry has been “totally overlooked in manufacturing policy”, despite having a 500,000-strong workforce – more than mining and utilities combined. “Other industries like automotive and defence have had clear government roadmaps and long-term support. Fashion and textiles haven’t,” she says. It’s certainly a missed opportunity. “We know through research that for every $1 million we invest in local manufacturing, we can generate $1.2 million in returns across local jobs, technology, innovation and advanced manufacturing,” Jaana says.
Offshore manufacturing has ultimately left Australia in a vulnerable position in the face of trade wars and supply chain uncertainty. “Our industry is highly exposed to global shocks, as we saw during COVID, and now with US tariffs. We grow some of the best natural fibres in the world – premium cotton and wool – but still rely on offshore processing and fragmented supply chains,” Jaana says.
As Australia’s peak body for the fashion and textiles industry, the AFC has been supporting Australian labels and retailers through the economic uncertainty of e-commerce and ultra-fast fashion. “It has had a huge impact across the board – economically, culturally, environmentally,” Jaana says. “The rise of ultra-fast fashion has shifted consumer expectations around price and speed in ways that are almost impossible for local businesses to compete with. It accelerated overproduction, contributed to textile waste and made it harder for quality Australian brands to compete both on price and values.” But there’s also a silver lining. “We’re seeing growing consumer fatigue with disposability,” Jaana says. “People are starting to question what kind of industry we want to support, and that opens up an opportunity for Australian fashion to lead with integrity and innovation.”
There are certainly Australian brands who are leading the charge, by doing good work in this space. Take HoMie, for example, a Melbourne-based streetwear label that began life in 2014 as a pop-up store to raise money for youth experiencing homelessness. More than a decade later, its collections have featured on the runway at Australia’s most prestigious fashion event, the Melbourne Fashion Festival. But the label hasn’t strayed from its roots as a social enterprise; 100 per cent of HoMie’s profits go towards supporting homeless youth, either via its monthly VIP Day – where youth experiencing homelessness visit the store to receive new clothing, food, a haircut and other beauty services – or via its retail accreditation and employment program. In recent years, it has also expanded into the sustainability space with its Reborn label, which upcycles ‘deadstock’ – unsold inventory – into trendy new garments.
Faced with a small volume of excess stock in 2019, HoMie co-founder Marcus Crook and his team decided to upcycle the clothing by cutting up several different garments and sewing them together in a mishmash design. “We didn’t want to get rid of them,” Marcus says. “So, [I had] a quick couple of days’ sewing lessons with my mum back in Colac and put some T-shirts together – like, cut and sew some T-shirts together, and then screen-printed on top of them. We put them online, and people really got around it because of the one-off, unique nature of them.”
The following year, HoMie took on a few hundred pieces from sports apparel brand Champion and created a collection of upcycled garments, which sold out quickly. From there, it has continued to grow. HoMie has since partnered with brands such as Country Road, Mambo, Nobody Denim, Disney, and even the AFL to upcycle unsold footy merch.
“It’s really great that we’ve got to this point where brands are coming to us and looking at their own supply chain and systems to try to create change,” Marcus says. “We have brands looking for a circular solution, because it’s driven by this consumer demand that it’s not acceptable just to be throwing things in the ground.”
HoMie has now partnered with ABMT Textiles to create Australia’s first upcycling factory, which will scale up operation from about 50 garments a week to 1500. “Essentially we use a zero-waste process, where we generally take three garments and then cut it up in the same pattern and then jigsaw them back together…and chuck a screen print over the top, or embroidery, or whatever the [collaborating] brand might like to do. So all garments are different colours and different in their own way,” Marcus says.
“We want to [be] somewhere where brands can come to upcycle their product or provide that circular solution.”
