Australia’s Outland Denim uses the fashion industry to uplift humanity
Photo courtesy of Outland Denim
What items in your wardrobe are likely to last a long time?Is there one item that most people, regardless of socio-economic or geographic background, have at least one?
For hundreds of years, merchants have been making durable canvas, twill, and denim pants for sailors, farmers, and other workers. And these pants have made jeans, or jeans, that can withstand the harsh conditions of the trenches.
“Jeans are not (or should not be) a disposable item,” says social entrepreneur James Bartle. “Jeans can last for years if they’re high quality and fit well. They wear with you.”
Australia’s Outland Denim uses the fashion industry to uplift humanity
Photo courtesy of Outland Denim
Organic cotton jeans therefore have the potential to “harness the very powerful tool of consumerism to create positive change,” Bartle concluded.
Bartle, who founded a motocross and extreme sports touring group that travels around Australia encouraging young people to make healthy lifestyle choices, has long taught himself how to create apparel through proper merchandising. I did.
based on big ideas
Like many people, Bartle and his wife saw the movie Taken in 2008. This film was the beginning of his journey to understanding human trafficking. When he learned that more than 50 million people are caught up in modern slavery, he could no longer ignore it. He wondered if he could design a business model for the apparel industry that would provide workers (mostly poor seamstresses) with a platform, tools, and resources that would give them financial control over their lives.
The model could similarly help clients support important changes in what he calls the “cycle of freedom” to counter the all-too-common cycle of poverty narrative.
It will take years of research, travel, partnership building, and trial and error. Finally, Outland Denim was founded in 2016 on these principles. The original goal was not to create a brand or even make a nominal profit per se, Bartle says. It was about doing good in the world through business.
Outland, headquartered in Tamborine Mountain, Queensland, aims to “move young women (and some men) away from modern slavery and vulnerability through investment in training, life skills acquisition, economic empowerment and career advancement opportunities.” It was designed to support people from a sexual perspective,” Bartle said.
We have approximately 100 employees between Australia and our production partners, with two cleaning/finishing facilities across Cambodia, and our mission is #DenimForFreedom.
denim and pandemic
Like most start-ups and small businesses in Australia and around the world, Outland’s mission was severely jeopardized by the three-year COVID-19 pandemic. Outland had just hired a number of new seamstresses to create a product that suddenly stopped selling. “We lost our wholesale business,” Bartle said. “I just hired this group of women who refused to close. [the Cambodia locations]. I thought about the reality that women are facing behind the scenes of the pandemic. Some decisions are right, some are wrong, but it certainly felt like the right thing to do for the employees I hired. ”
As a result of supporting staff during the coronavirus lockdown, Outland has been hit with a large tax bill and more recently faced a public crackdown after a grace period provided by the Australian Taxation Office ended It happened. Bartle said the ATO was campaigning hard to recover more than A$50 billion in debt, despite continuing national economic challenges that some business leaders described as “serious”. The majority of this is due to small and medium-sized enterprises, which are still struggling.
Australia’s Outland Denim uses the fashion industry to uplift humanity
Photo courtesy of Outland Denim
stretch
On the other hand, does human trafficking and other violations against women and other vulnerable people still occur in the world? For now, that fact remains sewn into our economic fabric. Bartle says it seems so. One in 130 women and girls lives in modern slavery. But Outland’s books remain hurt despite having a proven plan and supporting infrastructure.
But it’s hard to stop the 2019 Thomson Reuters Foundation Stop Slavery Prize winner’s mission to “uplift humanity and heal the planet.” That’s why Bartle, like millions of other founders and CEOs, comes to work every day and stays late, motivated by that mission. Is the answer to “make a big move” as it has recently done, acquiring another brand in 2023? Will it invest valuable resources in expanding into the jeans-advanced North American market? ?How can companies further improve their environmental sustainability and focus on more circular and regenerative areas?
At the end of the day, everything Outland does is underpinned by a “comprehensive, intergenerational wealth support model” (for example, seamstresses are empowered through the education and training opportunities offered by the company to support them in their work lives, etc.). , family, to have more control over their future) to improve their situation)? It all depends on whether consumers get the message and engage. And it depends on marketing, which also depends on funding…”
Outland Jeans products include a unique QR code, which Bartle claims “takes the owner on a journey that deepens the connection between the mission, the garment, and the wearer.” I am. After scanning with a smartphone, customers can send a direct message of thanks to the brand’s seamstress team.
It’s a mission whose time has come. With increased support from customers and funders, Bartle says Outland will thrive and change lives. “We’re headed for the best position we’ve ever been in,” he says. This is great news not only for denim-loving consumers, but also for the many lives they care for.
