This statement has given me the impetus to write to you from my blog that has so many “drafts” I am ashamed to say, let’s hope I can publish this for you to get the message across.

Thankful for this extra time at the moment and I hope if you are reading this you and your family are well, I wanted to share with you how I feel when reading this statement…………..

I believe in being kind to all living things to treat them with the respect that they would treat us in return.

For example Water, Air, Plants, and all other living breathing beings.

It is with this ethos that I began in the Rag Trade in 1978, and fortunate enough to spend my spare time in the sea or on land in the countryside, I had always had sustainability in my mind as my “war babies parents” kept, paper bags, pens, old pencils, Christmas Paper, bits of fabrics, used stockings as pegs et all, this gave me an unprecedented appreciation for what was important in life, things that had been previously scarce.

Knowing this allowed me to appreciate what I had so much more and how it was made and where it came from, so it was no surprise working in the fashion industry I was always asking for the source of the garments, many were made in the first building I worked in, hearing the racks full of finished coats roll over the wooden floors marked moments when the lift would be full and I could follow the coats up Flinders Lane to their “designers”

On the weekends seeing the roads I had learnt to drive on filling up with homes along their flanks like seagulls on the waters edge waiting for a morsel to come in sight, in Australia in the 80’s & 90’s there were so many changes it was overwhelming, especially the diminished availability of local cut make and sew workers and the Government encouraging us to “Expos” with Chinese and other off shore manufacturers.

I knew the relationship with nature we had was sacred, I was living amongst it any moment I had in Gippsland Victorian, nights in a small shack with the antechinus running along the beams above me and going out to the dunny with Kangaroos and wombats staring back at me thru the moist low cloud.

As kids we had begun to eat healthier after all my father had a triple bypass in 1979, there was yoga and meditation around the corner and we all embraced a wholesome life.

I hark back to these beginnings to verify I was never going to mass produce anything in my life, in the 1980s I had a fashion accessories business that became so busy I was unable to sleep with worry about how was I going to fill all the orders, this lesson early on taught me to take care of myself I needed to work within my means.

Water and the Earth my saviours, growing vegetables and bringing home produce from bountiful trees a way of life as a kid, before my suburb became gentrified and concrete was laid instead of grass.

The land became something that fed me and needed to be respected, these conscious choices made me stick with any local manufacturer I could in Australia, women working from their garage whilst the almond cookies were baking and the olives soaked for eating later in the year,

These women became part of my family as I worked, collogues as I travelled all over Melbourne to pick up and drop off “dead stock fabrics” to them, I bought in warehouses in the 1990s from resellers who had purchased them at the end of production from “designers” we were lucky to have very talented fabric suppliers in the 1990s.

I had began to make incredible scarves from divine fabrics I couldn’t see the women cut up because I had paid so much for the roll I was afraid it would be wasted, but returned in a few days to see this incredible creation we had made together, those days I dealt with the retailers directly and Friday normally started with pickups and then deliveries I used too make the loading dock at David Jones by around 2-3pm in time for the girls on the floor to pick up my stock and have it on hand as ladies came to get beautiful things to wear out on the weekend, “Made in Melbourne” a very short circle of fashion once again.

At the same time I was manufacturing stockings and stocking tops which I will describe to those of you who will recall what we all did in the 80’s with our colourful Mary Quant stockings, cut them out at the crotch and wore them as tops, after several trips to Europe and a desire to keep wearing fun tights I started my label that was manufactured in Melbourne, dyed in Melbourne another….. “small circle of fashion”

At the time I was well known for my colour palette bc behind the scenes I had begun to visit Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and Guatemala and the colours were showing up everywhere.

I would be holding this piece of fabric in front of the dye mixer as we concoted the depth and beauty of the colours I was seeing as I visited small villages and started working with women in Latin America.

The manufacturers were getting scarce and the dye houses closing down the choice was easy to start focusing on my latest passion supporting women and families in small villages all over Latin America where till today I remain, sharing recipes, laughter and their families as I have done my whole life working along side warm and generous people who I have learnt so much from, our lives mingled together thru work and a desire to keep things small and support others not needy mass producers.

For your reference I will include two things that confirmed my intentions and the fact that I was on the right path, a short film I saw on a plane in 2005 on the way to Latin America pleas see below………. Mardi Gras: Made in China

And a documentary called “Blood Sweat & T. Shirts” published in 2008 which was presented by the BBC after a moving documentary about the sources of our food, “Blood Sweat & Take Aways”

Thank you to a young @sjdooley the BBC shines the light on the injustices in this industry way back then please see below.

This continues today in so many parts of our world and I hope this type of correction will make the mass producers see that they need to #payup and consider how to recreate their clothing supply chain to a more sustainable model into the future or rely on old hands like myself to guide them to work alongside artisans and truly create something sustainable giving back to communities and possible ending their domination and destruction cycle.

Maria whom I met in 2011 who I still work with today.

What we believe makes us "WHO WE ARE" @carrysomers

When I was asked #whomademyclothes ?

Magdalena Wows Oaxaca with Hand-Embroidered Clothing