Thread by thread, we’re changing the uniform industry.
Change Threads began with a question.
Our founder, a long-time advocate for Fair Trade, looked at her daughter’s school uniform and wondered: Where did this come from? Who grew the cotton? Who stitched it together? Was this garment made with care, or with suffering?
At the time, headlines were filled with stories of collapse and cruelty:
The Rana Plaza disaster, where thousands of garment workers died in unsafe conditions. Reports of child labour in Uzbekistan’s cotton fields. Stories of young women trafficked into spinning mills across Southern India under the guise of employment.
What if the very clothes our children wore every day carried threads of that injustice?
She started asking questions of schools, uniform suppliers, industry insiders. No one had the answers. The supply chain for school uniforms was invisible. That silence spoke volumes. And it sparked a mission.
For over a decade, we’ve travelled back and forth to India to take a deep dive into the cotton and garment supply chain. We’ve met with cotton farmers, visited both exploitative and ethical factories, and studied the systems that uphold or oppress the people behind our clothing. We've witnessed the grim realities of government-run cotton mills, but also the extraordinary hope that flourishes in Fair Trade-certified factories and workplaces.
This journey has taught us one thing:
We can do better.
Today, ethical fashion has evolved. High-quality, sustainable fibres like organic Fairtrade cotton, recycled polyester, and reclaimed wool are more accessible than ever. Skilled artisans are eager to work in conditions that honour their dignity and rights. Australian families from school communities to corporate teams are ready for something different.
That’s why we’re launching Change Threads in 2025, with the aim of taking orders from early 2026.
We’re here to transform the way uniforms are made and chosen in Australia. To create garments that don't just look good but do good. That bring opportunity, not oppression. That support families and communities, instead of exploiting them.
At Change Threads, we know the hands behind every product.
We see their faces, hear their stories, and honour their craft. We believe uniforms should carry pride, not pain in every stitch.
Poem
“On the roof of a house in the slum,
we watched the hardened faces of the cotton farmers, banding together,
as our conversation was translated.
And in their eyes simple questions, uncertainty.
The sounds of their children playing in backwater,
echoing up through the shanties.
And all of me, wanted to promise them safety, security, a better life.
Unravel this t-shirt you now wear, and travel back to its beginning.
Follow the thread back across the sea,
back to that small flower in an Indian cotton field,
back to the calloused hand of the farmer who holds it in his fingers,
and you have begun to see the an inkling of a small piece of a human promise.
A promise to make their life better.
Thank you for being a part of it.”