Meet The Aussie Company Championing Slow Fashion
Some people start businesses because they want to change their lives. Alexia Spalding (above, left) and Sophie Pollitt started their fashion label, Good Day Girl, because they wanted to change their industry.
“We realised how much leftover stock the fashion industry generates – returns are between 20 and 40 per cent,” Alexia says. “We started thinking, if you were to start afresh, what could you do differently?”
Good Day Girl, which launched seven years ago, has reinvented the idea of how a fashion label works, reducing overproduction and waste with their made-to-order model. The company releases two collections a year – the summer collection is currently on show – and invites clients to visit the showroom, try on the samples and have their favourite items made to measure.
“It’s not just about your shape, it’s about how you like to wear your clothes – do you like things really tight, really loose, really long?” Alexia says. “By making to order, we give our clients clothes that sit the way they want.”
Good Day Girl’s wearable clothes in natural fabrics have gained a strong following; the Australian Chamber Orchestra (pictured below) recently commissioned them to make its new uniforms . Some of the ACO’s musicians even modelled the company’s latest summer collection, which features slip-on dresses, bias cut skirts and wide leg pants, made of cottons, linen jerseys and light silk cottons in shades of white, navy, poppy orange and cornflower blue.
“For us, it’s very much about the tactile pleasure of the fabric and how it feels. We engage with some of the best mills around the world and literally sit on the ground with thousands of fabric cuttings around us, working out which ones feel the best.”
The pieces are designed not just for comfort and practicality – nothing requires dry cleaning – but also for sheer ease of wear. “For us, it’s very much about the tactile pleasure of the fabric and how it feels. We engage with some of the best mills around the world and literally sit on the ground with thousands of fabric cuttings around us, working out which ones feel the best.”
Each compact collection builds on previous seasons. “We design with longevity in mind,” Alexia says. “We say to ourselves, ‘If someone bought that skirt last year, what would she like to wear with it this year?’ We have clients still wearing clothes from our first season seven years ago.”
The B Corp certified company keeps it local, manufacturing within 30 kilometres of their Sydney headquarters. That is reflected in the prices, with shirts starting at $249. “We keep our margins very lean, but it’s not a cheap product,” Alexia says. “That’s because we work with quality fabrics, because we manufacture ethically in Australia. Our customers understand the value that is in these products, the fact that for just one garment, there are 10 people involved in its manufacture, from designing and making to finishing and delivering.”
Good Day Girl’s success proves that not everyone is addicted to fast fashion, with a turnaround time of around a month until orders are delivered. “You have to be okay with shopping in a different way, and that’s a big ask in today’s world, but you do get the great satisfaction of wearing something that’s been made just for you.”
Words_ Ute Junker
Photos: Portrait_ Justin Alexander Australian Chamber Orchestra_ Nic Walker