Location
Australia
Made In
Indonesia | Australia | China
Values
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Give Back
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Vegan
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Made Locally
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Gender Equality
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Circularity
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Minimal Waste
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Eco Friendly
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Transparent
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Fair
Purpose-driven, sustainable, ethical and circular slow fashion brand madre natura is a Sydney-based company both crafting and designing with an optimistic outlook on the Australian fashion industry.
Utilising crisp, subtle trims, quality and durable fabrics and natural and earthy colour palette, madre natura’s gender-neutral designs are a credit to the ethical and sustainable fashion movement.
Meaning “Mother Nature” in Italian, madre natura was born from a desire to respect the earth, as well as “with the belief that love and respect for the environment are equally important as self-love and respect for the people around us.”
When looking at the processes the madre natura team has put in place, it’s obvious that they’re not just talking the talk. See for yourself:
Slow and sustainable fashion
madre natura is on a mission to create garments that do less harm to the people and the planet, and this is obvious in their commitment to slow and sustainable fashion. Through timeless designs, small and limited runs, high-quality fabrics and finishes, certified and natural materials – including GOTS organic cotton, Tencel and biodegradable fibres – and deadstock fabrics, madre natura is doing what they set out to. Social Responsibility Projects are also in the works, so stay tuned!
Ethical
In order to be sustainable, a brand must be ethical, and madre natura totally gets this. No surprises there. This company operates with complete transparency and provides a safe, fair, positive working environment for their Sydney employees. You can even get to know them – including Pattern Maker Alicia and Garment Cutter Carlos – via madre’s website. How’s that for transparency?
Circular
Madre natura also operates with a circular fashion system in mind, from the time the garments are created to the time their wearers no longer have need for them. Aside from providing purchasers with a care manual in an attempt to prolong the life of the garment and offering lifetime mending, madre natura also takes back any unwanted or unmendable clothing to reprocess it back into fabric. Their goal is to prolong the life of their garments and keep them out of landfill and, if we do say so ourselves, they’re doing a mighty fine job of it.
An ethical, sustainable, slow and circular mode of fashion production is at the core of madre natura’s vision, and their limited runs, use of certified and deadstock fabrics, transparency and conscious design are a testament to this. If you’ve been looking for a responsible Australian ethical fashion label to support, look no further than madre natura’s gender-neutral designs.
Want to know where Madre Natura sits and what they’re working on in terms of these 5 values? Hover over these values to find out.
Eco Friendly
All packaging is made from PC (Post consumer) Recycled paper and can be recycled again. All studio daily waste is recycled or composted, our printer is the most eco friendly printer we could afford. All our office suppliers we buy from Reverse Garbage in Marrickville. Our garment hangers for our studio are recycled paper hangers. All fabrics and trims are sourced with sustainable, circular innovation. And our business processes are circular. Climate Positive programs launching shortly.
Fair
Firstly we only source the highest quality (dead-stock) fabrics from the best fashion houses in Sydney. And the highest quality and certified fabrics, trims from our local, offshore suppliers this insures the fabric, trim quality and the person who is behind the creation gets the best/fair wages. Secondly all our design and production is crafted/made here in Sydney we are 100% transparent with our stories on our website about called mn_Makers and will continue to be transparent. We are grateful to live and work and manufacture in Australia as we know we pay above the standard living wages. We insure safety, happiness and our relationships with our design and production team as a high standard.
Minimal Waste
Our values for Slow, Sustainable and Circular come to play here as our goal to reduce waste is high on our values. Our collections are designed with the human form in mind, comfort and ease, durability and sustainable innovation through fabric and trim selection. Secondly our design and production processes such as the use of 3D pattern making and laser cutting reduces extra waste of samples and our recycling standards such as collection of off cuts (fabric waste) for design and production for reprocessing and separation and collection of all paper used for cutting for paper recycling. We only create small runs of production and focus on limited editions as our fabric is limited as its dead-stock with few styles a collection for our pre-order only. Every garment comes with complementary mends, care manuals to ensure the longevity and to reduce our products in landfill we encourage our customers to send their unwanted, un mendable mn products back to us for our reprocess program. All packaging is made from PC (Post consumer) Recycled paper and can be recycled again.
Give Back
We have a partnership with One Tree Planted and we fund their climate positive project to responsibly plant Australian native trees for every garment we make, not for every garment we sell. We will be launching this as a yearly Climate Positive report, there will be more things to report so watch this space.
Transparent
Our debut collection was crafted from a mix of dead-stock fabrics - most of this fabric we are able to trace where it was manufactured and where the fibre was grown for example: Italy, Japan, China, India. And our Organic Cotton and Tencel (TM) fabrics are manufactured in Australia. We have traceability for all our circular trims. Our supply chain for design and production is manufactured in Australia.
Behind the Brand
“It's been a dream of mine since I can remember, and I knew if I started something it had to be purpose-driven. As my love for nature and people are a part of my DNA”.
What made you start your madre natura?
While I was growing up I was always inspired by the beauty and the feeling that fashion gave, being inspired by nostalgia came from my late Grandparents from both sides as they had a strong sense of style and love of craftsmanship. I was taught to sew from my Mother who used to stay home Friday nights in the 1970s to make her outfits for Saturday nights going out.
It’s been a dream of mine since I can remember, and I knew if I started something it had to be purpose-driven. As my love for nature and people are a part of my DNA.
I had been sourcing and collecting dead-stock fabrics and created the idea in 2017 while I was working full time, I couldn’t seem to work on madre natura until a series of unfortunate events like losing my job, the covid pandemic and the loss of my late Grandmother Mary Galleghan that inspired me to the start.
I have spent several years researching and studying extensively sustainable, circular and ethical practices, suppliers, partners and processes.
Do you have a morning routine? If so what is it you do to set yourself up for the day ahead?
I am an early bird, I wake up between 5.30-6 pm start every day with exercise, I walk or run every day and Pilates every second day, then breakfast and coffee. Then I start my working day between 8-8.30am. I always have planned what I need to do the day/week before.
I always break for an hour for lunch and try and finish my dinner and work by 8 pm to be in bed by 9.30 pm. I meditate, read and journal write before I fall to sleep by 10 pm.
Some evenings I do have to stay up late for International zoom/phone meetings with suppliers and wholesalers.
Exercise and mediation are the key for my focus and motivation as running a small start-up business and studying takes up all of my time. So being meticulous is very important and spending time to reflect on what works what does not, planning and being prepared and setting goals.
I prepare my week ahead with my ICAL calendar and block my duties/tasks/meetings/study with colours and work on the most urgent, challenging work first thing in the morning. I have two meetings a week blocked out with myself to plan for example Sunday night I plan my week, then Friday night I plan my weekend work/relax. I usually work 7 days but recently I have started having Sundays off. I love spending my spare time in nature, hiking, swimming and cooking and spending quality time with family and good friends.
What’s the biggest barrier you’ve found to succeeding as a socially conscious business?
Being a start up/ small, new business.
Within the ethical fashion community, there’s a big question that we ask which is ‘who made my clothes?’. In the scope of madre natura, who made your garments? Can you tell us a bit about them?
Our design and production team consist of a small team here in Sydney:
I am the designer (fabric, trim developer).
Alicia; Pattern Maker.
Ida; Sample Machinist.
I am the hand Sample Cutter.
Carlos; Garment Production Cutter.
Marzia; Garment Grader, Digitiser.
Pauline; runs a small production team that consists of machinists, pressers. Pauline manufactures most of the Sydney – ‘Australian Made’ Designers collections.
See our mn_Makers story on our website.
Why did you pick the fabrics you have chosen to work with?
Our approach to sourcing always is with the impact to the environment at the forefront of our minds.
Best piece of advice you have ever received?
Focus on the things you can control and forget about the rest.
What’s next for you and madre natura?
Design and development of our part 2 collection and launching on per order this year. Launching on International, Australian wholesalers, retailers, stores this year. Launch own retail store/space, and focus on direct to consumer approach. Developing and growing and launching our Climate Positive programs.
Continue to create a positive change in the fashion industry.
One book and/or documentary everyone should read/watch? Why?
Simon Sinek – Start With Why
Are there any other Movers & Shakers out there in your world that you think people should know about?
1. Clare Press – Listen to The Wardrobe Crisis Podcasts and sign up to her website for such great information for sustainable fashion and now she has launched a course, so great! Spread the education for a positive future.
2. Buy yourself a Guppyfriend® washing bag to collect your poly fibres when washing polyester fabrics. Think about how many times you wash your gym clothes, eek. A scientifically proven solution against micro-plastic pollution caused by washing synthetic garments.
3. Educate yourself on the current climate crisis and live a more sustainable life: Using reusables, ditching single-use plastics, washing your clothes less, use only biodegradable cleaning/washing products, not using your dryer, switching to clean energy, eating less meat, walk more and offset your carbon emissions for your travels, these some small changes that can be made to create a positive impact.