About

Australia

Est. 2022

Everyday we get dressed.

Our Relationship With Clothes* (O.R.W.C.) is a soft activism project that seeks to cultivate a positive connection between people and their clothing. 

Australia is the second-largest consumer of textiles in the world, and we believe that talking about our individual and collective relationship with clothes can positively impact our day-to-day lives and bring awareness to consumption, textile waste, and social injustice within Australia and beyond.

In an age where our most valuable resources - our time and attention - are spent seeking new things, the relentless influx of new clothing creates a paradox: the more we accumulate, the less our clothes seem to hold meaning.

Clothing that once held our values, personal philosophies, and habits, reflecting who we are individually and collectively, now often pass through our lives quickly, barely noticed. Daily exposure to shoppable images shapes our perceptions, emotions, and behaviours, adding noise and confusion to our sense of self and how we wish to express ourselves.

O.R.W.C. opens the door to reimagining how we engage with our clothes, encouraging confidence in personal choices and respectful questioning of the broader fashion industry.

While sustainability challenges caused by the fashion industry can feel incredibly overwhelming, we focus on our individual choices as a form of soft activism. This approach emphasises the collective power of many, making small shifts, rather than a few striving for perfection.

This is a safe space for reflection and change.

“Choosing which clothes to wear can be emotionally powerful. It can be liberating, freeing, connecting and inspiring. Throughout my career, I’ve photographed many people who use clothing to express who they are with a richness of individual approaches.

While I attribute so much joy and opportunity to clothing, the fashion industry is responsible for millions of tonnes of textile waste, and the exploitation of garment workers.

The conversation at present is centered around fast fashion with the responsibility sitting with the large companies to produce less supported by industry and government reform. While I wholeheartedly agree with this I also think there is another opportunity for change.

Do you have a good relationship with clothes?

Our relationship with clothes is individual, nuanced, complex, and complicated. Even if you love getting dressed, and feel clothing has a positive impact on you as a person, the clothes we choose can change how we see ourselves and our bodies. They represent who we are and allow for responses from, and connections with others. Our ongoing aim is to create a conversation exploring clothing’s effect on individuals, communities, mental health, and the planet. We have build a community of like-minded individuals who love clothes, but are interested in being socially and environmentally aware.

We ask questions to cultivate thoughtful conversations as individuals, with our family and friends, and as a community. We read, research, and discuss modern literature and thought-provoking content around clothing and our relationship with self-expression, the need to belong, and the environmental impact our choices have. We create safe spaces to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to how we feel about clothing. To be unashamed, vulnerable, open, and understanding that this is a complicated subject. Everyone will have a different experience, but collectively maybe through respectful conversation, we can create change not only individually, but influence the overarching expectations on the industry and its’ environmental and social impact.

We love clothes, but not at the cost of other people or the planet.

We hope you’ll support the project.”

- Liz Sunshine, project lead

Projects

The Our Relationship With Clothes (O.R.W.C.) project is a space for everyone. Whether you’re already on the path to understand your relationship with fashion, wanting to repair it or just beginning to explore how clothes make you feel. This community is here to meet you where you are, normalising asking questions, having conversations and listening from a place of love and respect.

We believe in progress, not perfection.

Art

Conversation