Looking For A Reason To Buy Australian Made Fashion? Here’s six of them!
THE REFORM STORE is here to inspire and empower our community to rethink and reform the way the shop and live with an ethical and sustainable end to end experience.
We are committed to educating our community by making sustainability accessible and easy.
Proudly manufactured in Australia, DK ACTIVE is now stocked on THE REFORM STORE. Here to change the game in environmentally responsible design. Whether you’re working out or hanging out, their functional garments provide the perfect fit.
The HQ, based in North Brisbane, runs on solar power with a passion for ethical business practice. They are proud to say the DK ACTIVE factory meets all Australian standards for ethical clothing manufacturing.
You may have heard the term ‘clothing kilometres’, which takes into account the kilometres clocked up by transporting fabrics, textiles, garments et cetera. At dk active it’s a matter of metres.
All of the garments are cut in-house at our HQ, reducing the clothing kilometres of each piece to virtually nil. From design, manufacturing, warehousing to distribution, each step of the dk garment lifecycle is contained under the one (solar-powered) roof.
- Australian made more often than not means ethically made. But what makes an ethical brand?
An ethical brand makes sure it has a positive effect on people, planet, and animals. Ethical brands certify fair working across its production process. This includes implementing policies and following through on ethical practices on child labour, forced labour, worker safety and payment of a fair wage. Brands can go further to extend their ethical standards by caring about it’s use of energy and resources, reducing its carbon emissions, disposing of waste in a safe way and monitoring it’s impact on our waterways.
Australia has a very strict standards for working environments, in fact our standards are one of the highest in the world. Accreditation organisations like Ethical Clothing Australia provide manufacturing certification to fashion labels who manufacture their clothing in Australia.
Overseas manufacturing has boomed as an alternative source of labour at cheap wages. Countries in Asia with high manufacturing industries like China and Vietnam have lower regulations on working conditions and as a result factory workers often risk their health and living standards.
- You get what you pay for.
Australian Made clothes are often more expensive, but you are getting what you pay for. Australian Made products are typically higher quality than their counterparts. Large production manufacturing facilities often are known to cut corners in the way of cheaper fabrics and materials, cheaper labour and short cut production processes. The clothes made in Australia must meet the high Australian Mandatory Standards ensuring better quality production than that of factories producing volume orders in countries such as China and Vietnam.
- Sustainable Materials!
We have seen a big shift to sustainable materials being used in Australian Manufacturing. Brands are responding to consumers demands for more ethical and sustainable products by moving their materials to certified organic cotton, modal, 100% recycled polyester from old plastic bottles reducing potential landfill and waste to our oceans. Big brands like Adidas, Nike, Patagonia have invested in research, development and implementation of this over the past five years however Australian Brands have been doing this for a long time. We are highlighting a brand we are proud to stock DK ACTIVE to promote buying Australian Made. DK ACTIVE use sustainable materials and are produced in a solar power run factory.
- Australian made means less carbon footprint.
The supply chain in overseas manufacturing is a long one. Fabrics are printed and produced in the first factory, shipped to the cutting facility where they are cut (this could be in another country), often this is in a separate factory to the stitching or final production facility. By the time the fabric is turned into a finished product with all packaging and labelling attached the components that make up the product have already done a lot of travel and the goods still need to be shipped to their warehouse destination. This is all before the products is sent to you!
All of this travel adds up to a huge contribution toward greenhouse gas emissions. Buying from Australian Made brands cuts a significant portion of the travel time out that goes into production of the goods you are purchasing. Purchasing online goes one step further, you are reducing your solo emission contribution from travelling to the store, and are combining the distribution of your goods with other online purchases and deliveries in the same area.
Eco-fashion brands like DK ACTIVE are at the forefront of eco-friendly and sustainable fashion as a result of their shorter and fair trade production process. Using upcycled and sustainable materials, manufacturing in Australia is solar powered run factories and offices defines them as a green brand and a leader in ethical and sustainable fashion in Australia and around the world.
- You are voting with your dollar.
Australians have fallen into the cycle of buying on promotion and seeking out the best deal, we see getting more (quantity) for your dollar is good shopping. This has been driven by big retailers such as Myer and David Jones promoting huge discounts to reduce their stock levels and clear out to make space for the next season. This keeps a high demand for new products and keeps manufacturers and production happening at a fast cycle.
Buying Australian Made products is making a statement that you as a consumer are wanting quality over quantity. We are finally seeing a shift in the market and consumers are again looking for products that are Australian Made, to continue this we need to look at purchasing higher quality products less often from Australian Made and Owned factories.
- You are supporting the Australian economy.
The power is in the hands of the consumer! When we are buying Australian Made products we are supporting our local economy, and more often than not are supporting small Australian businesses. The Reform Store is here to help you find ethical and sustainable clothing supporting a number of small Australian businesses, we are here to help you take the effort out of shopping locally and sustainably.
