Designer Dale Cornell's fashions will feature in the Collection 3056 runway show at Melbourne Spring Fashion Week. Photo: Craig Sillitoe
Behind rusty rollerdoors dotted among Brunswick's backstreets, an independent fashion scene is quietly cutting out a new shape.
While the inner-northern enclave's hipster status is no secret, less well known is its rich fashion and textile industry, contained within old auto-electrical garages and repurposed warehouses off Sydney Road.
Here there are no mass-produced knock-offs peddled by chain stores, but small, finely honed collections designed and made locally using sustainable materials.
Jack of Diamonds designer Brianna Read with some of her work. Photo: Craig Sillitoe
This antidote to fast fashion will take centre stage at Collection 3056, a Melbourne Spring Fashion Week runway event on Wednesday that will showcase the work of eight Brunswick designers.
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The group includes Anna Cat, A Name is A Label, LHORDS, New Model Beauty Queen, Jack of Diamonds, Hand Hook Yarn, Neisha and Ella.
As well as a postcode (hence the name), the members of this scene share a dedication to ethical and sustainable design practices - a key topic at this year's fashion week.
Jack of Diamonds designer Brianna Read was drawn to Brunswick after graduating with a degree in textile design from RMIT's Brunswick campus. She shares a studio with artists, jewellers, musicians, screen printers and graphic designers.
"There is so much creativity here [in Brunswick] but you don't necessarily see it," she says. "You have to jump off onto a side street and even then it's not shouted about. There's a sort of humbleness about the way people operate in Brunswick, there's no pomp and ceremony."
New Model Beauty Queen designer Dale Cornell found an artistic refuge in Brunswick when the rent on his Fitzroy factory rose three years ago.
Now resettled in a small factory in Saxon Street, Cornell's clothing manufacturing business makes everything from lingerie to children's wear, as well as his own label.
While cost is often cited as the cause of death for the local clothing manufacturing industry, Cornell disagrees.
"Oddly enough, if you're doing small runs it's actually more cost-efficient to produce locally because you don't have to produce large volumes, so it's cheaper and more sustainable," he says.
"You can be much more market-focused, so you can change and evolve and react to what the market wants much more quickly. When you're making offshore you're always projecting yourself into the future because of the time lag, and with the way the world works that's not always a good idea."
As demand for cheap, disposable fashion grows, so too does a counter-demand for premium and ethically produced clothing. It is in this market that the Brunswick industry hopes to survive.
"I think some people are resigned to buying what's in the big clothing stores but there's a shift away from that disposable consumer attitude towards more conscious consumerism," Read says.
"My very small client base all have a passion for supporting locally-made. It's about retaining skills as part of a community so we don't outsource everything," she says.
Not only is there a growing market for ethically produced designs, the group also discovered a willingness to fork out for the cost of their runway show.
Faced with a big bill they could not afford, the group turned to crowdfunding site pozible.com and raised $6500 - which was $1000 more than their original budget required.
"We were sponsored by 150 people, which was really inspiring," event director Bianca Christoff says.
"It gives us a chance to be part of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week and showcase our work before a bigger audience than whoever is walking down Sydney Road."
Collection 3056 is on Wednesday at The Order of Melbourne.
Other Melbourne Spring Fashion Week events include the Designer Series Runway shows at Melbourne Town Hall, workshops at City Square and an exhibition celebrating 100 years of Wittner shoes.
mkent@theage.com.au
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