SELF expression through clothing is about to get more individualised in Swan Hill, with Porque clothing brand’s collection launch at the Federal Hotel on January 3.
Local boys Sam Fisher and Jack Woodward started Porque (pronounced POR-KAY) to make one of one clothing articles sustainably to encourage their customers’ freedom of expression.
“Everyone has their own flare, their own individual streaks,” Mr Fisher said.
“Fashion is a saturated market, but clothing can make people feel like themselves, represent who they are and reflect their character.
“We are trying to be more than a clothing brand.”
They are excited to launch their latest collection in Swan Hill, a collaboration with local artist Betty McKay.
“We both grew up in Swan Hill, it’s home to us, and we like to come back on holidays and as much as we can,” Mr Woodward said.
“We’re really excited to bring a local artist and a local event to somewhere that we spent most of our childhood, in a celebration of where we’ve come from and where we’re going.
“Brand identity is so important to us and we want to allow Porque to be an extension of ourselves and the road we have taken to who we are.
“If we’ve found that confidence in ourselves and who we are, then we want to extend that to others.”
The first collection, printed on hoodies with the theme Above the Clouds, featured individualised AI art generated from a survey on the Porque website.
The second was printed on t-shirts with original artwork by Mexican artist Regina Franco.
This latest collection, named Betty will also be printed on t-shirts.
Currently, they are direct-to-film printing the designs and heat pressing the film to the shirts themselves, but they are looking at exploring more options to transfer the artwork.
“We want to start doing more embroidery, with a one of one embroidered logo, to give that visual indication to the design,” Mr Woodward said.
“We’re looking at a few different options such as direct-to-garment printing, but that requires a bit more labour and time.
“We have loads of ideas and we’re getting creative in how we can make garments one of one.”
They acknowledge that creating one of one clothing, where each piece is unique to the customer, is unconventional and presents unique challenges.
“At the scale we’re at now, we can handle it, but long-term it’s going to be a challenge to scale up,” Mr Fisher said.
“We’re basically trying to reinvent the wheel and there’s no model behind this concept or formula that we can follow, but it’s something we’re figuring out.
“Since we came up with the idea in January this year, research became a rabbit hole so we can find ways to overcome the doors in our way and keep moving forward.
“We’re finding ways to make it happen, but we think it can be done, and it’s started.”
With sustainability and ethical consumption as core values of the business, the business partners recently visited their suppliers in China.
“We import 100 per cent cotton garments from China, and we met with our manufacturers two weeks ago so we know who we’re working with, the warehouse conditions and build that relationship,” Mr Fisher said.
“It was a pleasure to meet them and share our vision, and they were supportive of our idea, so there’s more garments coming through soon.
They are committed to learning more about reducing their emissions and minimising their environmental impact.
“Fashion is a tough industry to be sustainable in; the supply chain management in itself, the way it’s transported, the dyeing of the clothes, the energy that goes into AI systems,” Mr Fisher said.
“There are big questions that all industries are facing, and while the control that we have is not big, we’re trying to take the right steps where we can.
“The start is understanding and finding ways to mitigate our emissions, so if we are using X amount of energy on AI, then we are finding other ways to bring energy use back down.
“We use 100 per cent cotton because it’s 100 per cent recyclable, and if it’s blended with nylon then it’s not.
“We are looking at other fabrics as well that we want to use, such as bamboo cotton blend and recycled polyester.”
Beyond the launch of the Betty collection at the Federal Hotel at 6pm January 3, Porque is looking to collaborate with other Australian artists into the future.
