Aussies wearing the change this Refugee Week

An ethical fashion styling challenge is showcasing the best in sustainable clothing

Australians working from home have been bringing some colour and style to their daily Zoom calls this week, wearing ethical clothing to support refugee and migrant women in the fashion industry.

#WearTheChange2020 is an ethical fashion styling challenge held during Refugee Week 2020 (14 to 20 June), which encourages Australians to select a sustainable garment to wear this week – styled in different ways each day.

Those participating can then share on social media using the campaign hashtag and link to their fundraising page.

The money is being raised for social enterprise The Social Outfit’s not-for-profit community programs, which support migrant and refugee women with training and employment pathways in the fashion industry.

Many working from home have been dressing up for their daily zoom meetings, while some have taken the challenge to Parliament, with politicians including Kristina Keneally, Jenny Leong and Mehreen Faruqi raising funds for the campaign.

How awesome is this beautiful jacket? I’m thrilled to be taking the #WearTheChange2020 challenge and wearing it every day this week to raise money for @TheSocialOutfit‘s amazing work empowering refugees.

If you are able to, you can donate here: https://t.co/UfY65usuXn pic.twitter.com/2Lgq6MgZ7U

— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) June 16, 2020

ABC host and political journalist Annabel Crabb is also taking part and has helped raise more than $7,000.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Bold choice for a chilly day but to hell with it. Day Four of Refugee Week and #wearthechange2020 …. thanks to the kindness of friends and strangers we’ve now raised about $7K for @thesocialoutfit’s great work training and employing refugees and new migrants to make amazing clobber out of recovered and donated fabric. These women are among the most underemployed groups in Australia. If you can help even a little bit – head to the link in my bio! Here the chambray raglan top (its trim is made from excess elastic by the way! Very cool) teams up with my old favourite Gorman pants I’ve been wearing nonstop for about six years. And my trusty @radicalyes sneakers. Have a great day everyone. Thanks as ever to the excellent @mr_stephenblake for his photographs

A post shared by Annabel Crabb (@annabelcrabb) on Jun 17, 2020 at 6:13pm PDT

The Social Outfit CEO Camilla Schippa said #WearTheChange2020 was about raising awareness of the importance of choosing ethically made and sustainable fashion, whilst also supporting women from refugee backgrounds.

“With the fashion industry being one of the top global polluters and notorious for using forced labour, child labour and endangering workers through unsafe conditions in factories, we want to continue to educate buyers and shine a light on the importance of buying ethical and sustainable clothing over fast fashion,” Schippa said.

The Social Outfit has already gone above its initial fundraising target of $30,000. You can find out more about the campaign here.