Hi Lydia! Firstly, tell me a bit about yourself!
Hi! I am the owner/designer for Australian label HALIA. I have been in the fashion industry for around 8 years now, including 4 years of study. However I started sewing at the ripe age of 11 with my mum I guess I went into fashion because I just loved sewing and making clothing for myself – I thought it was the coolest thing haha. So then I went on to study and fell even more in love with the concept behind fashion and apparel, and how it has evolved throughout history. I graduated and interned for 2 years, moving from the marketing side of the industry (wasn’t for me) to settling in the design side of things. I was working in Melbourne for a few years after graduating there, and decided to move overseas to see if the fashion world lived up to the hype in europe! But unfortunately covid hit, and cancelled my plans, but was a lovely blessing as I have been able to spend the last year with my family. I am now based back home on the Gold Coast, sewing bridal dresses for an Australian bridal company, while working on my baby label- HALIA.
What inspired you to start HALIA?
Well I’ve always made clothes for myself and worn them over and over again – so I started to get friends, family and even passers on the street complimenting what I was wearing and asking where I got them from. Many of my friends kept mentioning and slowly encouraged me to start HALIA. Especially now with the world we live in with social media, it has become a lot easier and more accessible to start your own business. So I put all of my savings into getting it up and running, and so far so good!
What challenges have you found / overcome starting in the industry?
Ooo there are a few haha! Firstly, I am very driven by Australian brands keeping their production locally made, which meant that I wanted HALIA to be Australian made. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to be able to keep these values and stay competitive in the market. It’s more costly in production and materials, the manufacturing industry is getting smaller by the day, and not many will accept small MOQs. BUT, staying Australian made feels right for the moment and we are trying our best to keep it that way.
Secondly, social media is taking over the industry slowly and fast fashion is growing bigger as we speak. This is the biggest challenge to overcome as it is hard to compete with such a strong competitor that is only doing damage to the world. However, all you need is a strong, loving and supportive following and you will fit somewhere in this ginormous industry.
What is it you like best about being a fashion designer?
Fashion can give someone their confidence for the day, can express how their feeling without saying anything, comfort them when they are feeling any kind of emotions, and can attract likeminded people. Being a fashion designer gives you the power the create this for someone and for me, that’s the best part about designing fashion.
Who or what are your inspirations for creating your designs?
I draw from movies, magazines, books, characters, anything that sparks a little something inside me to create or design.
How do you keep practices sustainable? Is this important for you?
This is SO important for me! I really feel passionate about the fashion industry and the harm it is doing to the environment and I would hate for HALIA to be contributing to this. So to keep our practices sustainable, we carefully source our fabrics from suppliers who stock a range of fabrics that are just about to go to landfill. I make almost everything at home in my little studio so nothing goes to waste, and order very limited amounts of fabric to ensure most pieces are sold with minimal waste in fabric. there are so many more factors that come in when talking about sustainability, but we can only do our best As we get bigger we will have to start outsourcing production to our lovely suppliers down in Melbourne. we have met the team and had a walk through the factories to ensure a safe and workable area.
What is next for HALIA?
I am hoping to bring out some cute and fun summer sets soon, just in time for the warm weather! And then just will be doing more one off pieces with random small cuts of fun vibrant fabrics I have been collecting
