Youth Entrepreneurs & Leaders Speaker Series: Brunei
Sustainable fashion youth delegation to arrive in Brunei
PRESS RELEASE 11 September 2019 – Download PDF
The Youth Entrepreneurs and Leaders Speaker Series, run as part of Australian public diplomacy program Australia now with the Australian High Commission, will travel to Brunei between 28th November and 3rd December, bringing speakers to focus on upskilling and equipping youth around leading topics around sustainability and social entrepreneurship
Funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and curated by Social Good Outpost, the Speaker Series is being run across a selection of locations from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). So far, over 30 events have already been run across Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, and the program is excited to touch down in Brunei to celebrate and showcase youth.
One of the acclaimed speakers being brought to Brunei is Brittanie Dreghorn, the founder and editor of Britt’s List, an online fashion publication dedicated to telling the stories behind Australian fashion brands that lead their industry in environmental sustainability and ethical treatment of people and animals. She will be supported by award-winning social entrepreneur and curator, Elise Stephenson, to run a series of workshops and events around the future of fashion (sustainable fashion) and the future of business (social enterprise).
This week includes a particularly exciting program that will showcase the designs and work of 11 phenomenal Australian sustainable fashion designers and brands, as well as work with young fashion designers and entrepreneurs in Brunei to embed ethics and sustainability into the industry.
The showcased brands include: Seljak Brand, who makes recycled wool blankets with a circular life cycle; The Social Outfit, which provides employment and training in the fashion industry to people from refugee and new migrant communities; and Magknitude, a socially and environmentally conscious hand-knitted garments brand, and whom also collaborates with designers such as Indija MahJoeddin, who produces wearable art influenced by Sumatran folk opera.
Other brands include Amira Al-Maani, a clothing designer blending her cultural heritage with other styles to create functional, stylish and modest clothing; Full Circle Fibres, who connect fibre growers to the creators, processors and designers who use them – such as Australian Super Cotton, who use precision farming to produce world-leading cotton; and Team Timbuktu, who make sustainable clothes for movement and the enjoyment of being outdoors.
Plus, the showcase will also highlight the work of Outland Denim who combine ethical, sustainable fibres with fair employment for women seamstresses to create premium denim jeans and fight exploitation by choosing a fully ethical supply chain; Genkstasy, creators of non-binary unisex streetwear; and Citizen Wolf, a brand committed to shifting the global fashion industry away from mass-production to on demand tailoring in an ethical way.
As invited speaker for this Brunei visit, Brittanie Dreghorn brings a wealth of experience in sustainable fashion and entrepreneurship. Since launching Britt’s List in 2017, Britt has made it her mission to raise awareness of the issues in the fashion industry and help promote and profile fashion brands that are making genuine efforts in sustainability. Off the back of Britt’s List, Britt runs monthly sustainable fashion walking tours in Brisbane and speaks regularly at events for businesses, fashion industry people and individuals who want to learn more about sustainability. She’s a thought leader in the industry and a passionate ambassador for truly ethical brands everywhere.
Of her work Britt says, “I started Britt’s List because I was feeling frustrated and disillusioned by the messages I saw I the fashion industry. Brands were claiming to be ethical and sustainable but the more I looked into it, the more it seemed like a hoax. I wanted to help shoppers to learn about brands that were doing the right thing by people, the planet and animals. And I wanted to tell those brands’ stories.”
Stories, experiences and sharing knowledge and learning will be celebrated throughout the events in Brunei, with this sustainable fashion event series including presentations the future of business and social enterprise, workshops on the future of fashion and sustainable fashion, a radio interview on The Scoop, and a visit to the Mahakarya Institute of Arts Asia (MIAA). Students from MIAA will also be shadowing our speakers all week to capture and record events, and get real-world experience through this program.
These events are particularly significant currently, Elise says, because “as a globe, we are all facing big issues with environmental degradation and more. With the fashion industry being such a booming and exciting industry in Brunei, sustainability is increasingly important and an integral part of solving some of our region’s challenges. We believe youth have an incredible amount to contribute to this area. We are very excited to bring this program to Brunei and look forward to future collaborations!”
For more information on the program and for all event updates visit:
https://socialgoodoutpost.com/Australia-now/
And for more about the brands:
All enquiries contact:
Elise Stephenson
Curator, Youth entrepreneurs & leaders speaker series and Director, Social Good Outpost
E: elise@socialgoodoutpost.com
M: +61 409 210 131
