Australians buy more clothes per person than any other country

ABC NEWS (Australia)

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.

Transcript

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.

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