Taking eco-friendly to runway

TWO Mildura-born sisters are set to have their own environmentally-conscious clothing brand highlighted at Adelaide Fashion Week.

Abbey and Jess Smythe-Castine founded ELLEE THE LABEL with a desire to create an Australian-made, mindful womenswear brand, which they launched in early 2023.

Co-founder and director of operations Jess said she is looking forward to being involved in Adelaide Fashion Week, which will be held over October 11 to 13.

“It is really exciting for our brand to be exposed to people to see what we are doing, and hopefully help change the industry and make people think about purchasing stable clothing instead of purchasing a new thing every week as well as really investing in quality pieces,” she said.

The sisters were inspired to create the label after working in the fashion industry in Melbourne and seeing the impact of fast-fashion, and in particular its environmental impact.

The label’s brand values centre around conscious design, responsible materials, Australian designed and manufactured, limiting environmental impact, and being involved with community.

“Seeing sort of just how much mass production there was and the processes and how quickly everything had to turn around,” Jess said. “We wanted to get more into those quality pieces and just reduce the consumption that everyone is shopping.”

While Jess is the business specialist of the pair, Abbey is the creative designer, having studied at the Whitehouse Institute of Design before completing her Master of Fashion (Entrepreneurship) at RMIT.

“I always had that general interest,” Abbey said.

“We always had that kind of desire to get into the industry.”

While ELLEE THE LABEL is currently only available to purchase online, both Jess and Abbey are hoping to soon be able to reach further afield.

“We’ve been available online for just over a year and a half now, just spending a lot of our spare time just on this project, pushing marketing and sales and getting the brand exposure,” Jess said.

“It is a lot of work, but we’ve love it obviously, and we are passionate about it.

“We are hoping to expand our reach in the future, especially with all the exposure we will be getting in the next couple of months.”