The Australian fashion industry is struggling, with local brands fighting to stay afloat. Last week it was designer label Dion Lee - once the pinnacle of Australian fashion, now forced to exit the scene after the company failed to find a buyer.
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00:00It's an industry that's definitely struggling. I speak to a lot of designers and other people
00:07who work in the industry and a lot of people are saying they've never seen a climate like
00:13this before. They've been through recessions, they've been through many a great deal challenges
00:19in their careers and they said that this is a particularly challenging time because we
00:24have both a massive increase in costs of doing business and we also have a massive cost of
00:30living crisis where people are struggling to buy and support Australian fashion.
00:36So just tell us more about where Australians are getting their fashion from if they're
00:41not buying from the local brands.
00:44There's a lot of research that has us believe that Australians are buying more fast fashion
00:51than almost any other country in the world based on our population. We know from a report
00:57by the Australia Institute a few months ago that Australians buy 56 items of new clothing
01:03every year and the average cost of those items is just $13, which led the researchers of
01:11that particular report to conclude that a lot of it is coming from internationally owned
01:16fast fashion companies. We also know that our own Kmart and big box retailers such as
01:23them are also doing incredibly well, but it is leaving the independent Australian designers
01:29in many cases struggling.
01:32Is it becoming near impossible to compete with these ultra low priced fashion brands
01:38particularly during this cost of living crisis when people are struggling so much they have
01:42no other choice but to buy the cheaper options?
01:45Yeah, and there's a lot of sympathy out there in the marketplace for that. We're not assuming
01:50that people can necessarily afford a $300 or $400 jacket on a monthly or weekly basis
01:57on an average wage in order to support those designers. But I think what the sentiment
02:02is, is that to try and support where you can, when we log on to some of these overseas owned
02:08websites and see that you can buy a t-shirt for $1.59, I think that raises a lot of economical
02:14and also ethical questions about how that t-shirt came to be and also the implications
02:21for it once it's finished its life. I was unfortunately at a fitness class yesterday
02:26and heard a lady talk about buying particular tops and saying, oh, well, it doesn't matter
02:31if it doesn't work out after six months, you can just throw it out. And my heart broke
02:35a little bit, but I bit my tongue. I didn't want to say anything to her at 10 o'clock
02:40on a Friday morning.
02:42Now often, Melissa, the fashion industry is dismissed as being frivolous, but it contributes
02:46a huge amount to the economy. What do we stand to lose if the local industry, if the Australian
02:53industry is not supported?
02:54Yeah, Jo, I think we stand to lose jobs, obviously, and we also stand to lose a big slice of the
03:01contribution that it makes to the economy. We know already that in the last five years,
03:06just the Victorian manufacturing sector alone, which accounts for roughly one third of Australian-based
03:12clothing and footwear production, has lost $200 million, or close to 20% of its value,
03:19which is quite huge. That's only a small part of what the overall fashion industry contributes
03:25to the economy. It's in the $20 billion every year. But the manufacturing sector is in trouble.
03:32And of course, you know, we want our Australian brands to be supported. A lot of them would
03:37love to be making locally, but it's prohibitively expensive. And what the Australian Fashion
03:42Council is calling for is greater support, both from a financial point of view, but also
03:47a skills and training point of view.
03:49What is the role of governments here? What can they do to support the industry, given
03:53how much it contributes to the economy?
03:56Well, obviously, there's money that could be on the table to encourage increased production.
04:03There's also a real push on for greater investment in manufacturing things like uniforms and
04:10government tenders for things like military uniforms, which I think in the past were more,
04:17you know, required, there was a greater quota that had to be Australian made. But I think
04:22in recent times, some of those have maybe slipped a little bit. And what the Fashion
04:26Council is saying is that in order to support our fashion brands, we need to underpin that
04:33with a robust clothing manufacturer industry. And I do distinguish between the clothing
04:38industry and the fashion industry, to make that point. And so some of these makers, if
04:44they're supported enough by those regular contracts to produce uniforms and the bread
04:48and butter of the clothing that we wear, then they can also manufacture for some of
04:53these fashion brands that maybe aren't making in the same quantities, but obviously contribute
04:58to us having a diverse and colourful and successful industry.