The Appeal Of Political Fashion

Photos we the women
By Madelaine Cherrington

Fashion has an undeniable power. It can allow us to make a statement, champion self-expression and generally just make us feel good.

In the last few years, there’s been a steady rise in the creation and manufacturing of political apparel, permitting individuals to express their views and support the causes they care about through the clothing they wear. We’ve also seen a prioritisation of ethically made clothing over problematic fast fashion brands.

But where do you go for clothing that caters to both these needs? Enter intersectional feminist and ethically made apparel brand, we the women.

We the women is a feminist apparel brand that sells thoughtfully designed t-shirts and donates 100% of its profits to women’s organisations. Not only do the t-shirts look really cool, they each have their own specific message; from the importance of gender inclusivity to highlighting the #metoo movement. And of course, their t-shirts are ethically made, supplied by AS colour, a small-ethically accredited clothing manufacturer based in New Zealand.

We the women is dedicated to shining a light on the issues that women face in Australia such as violence against women, catcalling, stalking, harassment, rape culture, body-shaming ,slut-shaming, the wage gap and human trafficking.

I spoke to founder Suzi Muller about her experiences of building a company from the ground up and the importance of intersectional feminism in the apparel space.  

What inspired you to start we the women?
So I was in the process moving to Brisbane, and looking for a bit of a tree- change. I was in this frame of mind of transitioning and thinking a bit more philosophically about where I was in my life. I felt like I was always contributing to social issues, I’d go to rallies and protests and all of that but I wanted to do something directly. Basically I really wanted to take all of the aspects of the things I cared about in the world and try and contribute in my own way.

I love that! That’s a really cool resolve to have.
Thanks! There was definitely a gap in the market as well. Most of the feminist apparel that exists, it’s actually a bit anti-feminist and definitely anti-intersectional feminism. I genuinely didn’t think that feminism and profit could co-exist, because capitalism is so inherently sexist. Literally every feminist apparel company is for profit and probably using it as a bit of a marketing tool, which is something I didn’t feel very comfortable with. And for me, coming from a creative background, I didn’t love the designs and the messages, they weren’t very intersectional. I very selfishly wanted to create and design something that I would wear.

For those who may not be across the term, could you explain what intersectional feminism is?
So the phrase that I kept reading when I was researching for this, and this resonated with me quite deeply, is that all inequality is not create equal. It’s essentially an understanding, it’s looking at issues through the lens of a number of different social and political issues and identities as well. Initially it was the intersection of race, but now it’s expanded to include gender, sex, class, religion and disabled bodies.

Why was it important that the apparel that you were sourcing, was ethically made?
So, I could see that a lot of those feminist apparel brands that I mentioned before were completely ignoring the issue of fast fashion. I just didn’t want to do that! It’s very difficult to find ethically produced materials and people that are using ethical or kind of ethical factories to make their clothing. It’s undeniable, the impact of fast fashion on women is very obvious. I didn’t feel as though it was very intersectional to put my blinders on in regards to that.

Do you choose the organisation before you decide on T-shirt designs? Or is it the other way around?
When I stated, I originally began with choosing the organisation first, but I would like to be a little bit more agile about it and be able to respond to emerging issues. Funds are often needed in different places at different times.

With Transend, which is one of the organisations I’m donating profits to at the moment, that one just popped up. The t-shirt was designed with trans women in mind, and it was a great fit to donate to them. So it’s a little bit of both!

I should give my sister in law some credit because she’s amazing. She’s the illustrator, I’ve worked with her quite closely over the last six to twelve months. I sent her list of, and I mean it was like two pages, of tag lines and words that popped into my head. She then took the ones that resonated with her as a designer and illustrator and she came up with a bunch of designs and we worked on them from there. She really outdid herself, I gave her such a ridiculous brief and she did such an amazing job.

What are some of the challenges you’ve come up across whilst establishing the brand?
Personally, I’ll get really philosophical with you again…I think that there’s this phrase on the internet, ‘the enemy of activism is perfectionism’. Prior to starting this business, I was wondering what am going to do? I really want to do something in the feminist space. I know that I’m never going to be a perfect feminist, and that really bothers me! But I think that in a way, the good that I’m doing outweighs any bad.

The other thing is, in my own personal nirvana, intersectional feminism is the only kind of feminism. I think that feminism has been a little bit co-opted, specifically by big co-operations. Talking about intersectional feminism is the only way to get comfortable with the idea for me personally.

Also, the business itself is funded entirely by my personal savings. I worked towards its for six months while I was doing some consulting. I do work with a designer, but I’m the one doing all the operations, the social media and all of the research to enable it to expand. It’s definitely a lot.. a lot to take on as one person. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. It’s by far the most satisfied I’ve felt in my work ever! I would love to be able to grow it eventually.

Check out we the women’s catalogue of apparel and support them at wethewomen.store.