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Fashion's second act

Fashion's second act

Written by Margie Riddiford

Three Australian fashion designers — Kit Willow, Nessie Croft and Jade Arnsdorf — decided to shift, pause or step entirely away from their much-loved brands. What does the future look like for them, and for the local creative industry? 


As an industry that fetishises newness and evolution, fashion asks a lot from those who choose it as a career. Those ideas are natural antagonists to sustainability: of longevity, of making things that last, of slowing down. What happens when some of the most respected designers in the country decide that they want to step away from the flurry, and reimagine their roles within the industry? Or, to find a new way of creating altogether?


“I’m entering my third phase,” Kit Willow tells me, declaratively, over the phone. It’s the week before Christmas and we’ve both managed to steal a few moments away from our families to discuss the designer’s latest career moves. “I realised that my time on Earth would be much better spent accelerating a necessary shift in fashion than it would be putting out more clothes every two weeks,” Willow continues, “so my mission has become finding positive solutions for the industry that could lead to a whole new operating model.”


It might sound like a lofty goal, but considered in the context of Willow’s standing in Australian fashion, it might just be the natural step forward. Spanning decades and continents, Willow’s journey started with her eponymous brand, launched when she was 23, which later evolved into KitX, a label that gained traction as an early proponent of fashion’s potential to be both sustainable and beautiful. “I wanted to create a business model where everyone felt like they were winning,” Willow explains. “So, I worked with artisans to create beautiful, wearable fashion that was sourced consciously to minimise its impact on the planet and to start influencing change in the wider industry.” In fact, Willow’s commitment to climate-positive systemic change is so intrinsic to her work that KitX has now moved entirely to an on-demand model.


“I’m basically taking the principles of sustainable fashion that have been emerging over the last decade and honing them into this very specific and usable system,” Willow tells me. “Brands need to reduce the vagueness around their supply chains and start talking about their materials with granular transparency.” For Willow, this means working with some emerging platforms out of Europe that can track carbon emissions by product and offer data with such specificity that it will undoubtedly alter the way we understand where our clothes come from. “This is the future of fashion,” explains Willow, “accurate carbon data that can hopefully lead to legislative change.” 

Photography courtesy KitX x Citizen Wolf
“I realised that my time on Earth would be much better spent accelerating a necessary shift in fashion than it would be putting out more clothes every two weeks,”

Sustainability is an idea to which Jade Arnsdorf has also long been an acolyte. In fact, Arnsdorf, her self-named brand, was the first fashion label in Australia to receive B-Corp Certification. The designer tells me she decided to be completely transparent about her supply chain from day one. “We published the origins of each fabric and all the details associated with making each garment so that people could understand the true costs,” Arnsdorf explains. “We had an in-house atelier so that we could control every part of our supply chain and so that we could make clothes that were both ethically sound and of exceptional quality.” celebrates craftsmanship, empowers artisan communities, and redefines the future of ethical artistry.


For Arnsdorf, it was an approach that allowed her to influence and disrupt the wider industry by showcasing how brands could become more purpose-driven and environmentally responsible. It helped, no doubt, that the Arnsdorf style —minimal, structured, ever-so-coolly ‘Melbourne’ — was also influential. 



Photography Andy Hatton
“The biggest challenge was around scaleability,” she says, a sentiment I have heard repeated by almost every designer trying to maintain a low environmental impact in their work.

Ultimately though, despite years of building a loyal customer base and time spent exploring acquisition pathways that could support growth and scaleability (the label even had pieces selected for the National Gallery of Victoria’s permanent collection) Arnsdorf made the decision to close her brand in March 2024. “The biggest challenge was around scaleability,” she says, a sentiment I have heard repeated by almost every designer trying to maintain a low environmental impact in their work. “Australian independent retail is challenging at the moment, with wholesale buyers buying less and more conservatively and customers generally purchasing fewer items,” she tells me. “I’m an optimist at heart, so in one way, this trend of buying less, buying better will serve the environment well and it feels like a reset. Perhaps the industry really can find a new way.”


Even Nessie Croft, of Melbourne-based brand Core Prêt, echoed this sentiment when we found time to talk between her packing up her studio and embarking on a new chapter overseas. Like Arnsdorf, Croft was drawn into fashion initially because of her love for the craft and her appreciation for its practical artistry. Her intrinsically artistic sensibility remained central to her brand, which specialised in elevated everyday wear alongside one-off upcycled pieces, even when it grew its commercial wings and took off into a business. Every collection showcased renewable, recycled and organic materials, with pieces that were meticulously designed to last far beyond a single season. 

Photography Core~Prêt

“I think I was initially inspired by that really idealistic viewpoint that fashion could be used as a tool for change,” Croft tells me. “The idea of wearing your values and the kinds of conversations that people can create with their fashion choices.” Croft completed her Masters in circular fashion, and when it came time to apply her knowledge practically, the designer revelled in what she calls the “nitty gritty of designing for longevity, inclusivity, biodegradability and circularity.” Core Prêt’s collections harnessed innovative materials and techniques, but their aesthetic married notes of menswear tailoring with a romanticism that gave each an assertive femininity.The brand quickly attracted attention as a leader in a new era of Australian fashion.


Interestingly, Croft reveals that despite the fact that her final season was (in her eyes) the best she had ever done, she felt a pull to put Core Prêt on pause indefinitely at the end of last year, taking some time to travel, move overseas (she is now based in London) and explore other passions. Part of this was due to the incredibly labour-intensive nature of upcycling (which largely mitigated the brand’s financial viability) as well as increasing costs across the supply chain. And beyond that, it was Croft’s own desire for more freedom. “I knew I had one more collection I wanted to bring to life,” she tells me, “and then I just felt that Core Prêt had run its course in its current evolution.” She pauses. “I was really happy with where it got to without having to make any ethical or sustainable compromises, and I needed some time away to try new things, meet new people and gain a fresh perspective.”


For Croft, as indeed for Willow and Arnsdorf, the most important legacy to leave was one of reimagining fashion’s status quo. That each of these designers impacted our understanding of how a fashion brand could (and really, should) operate is undeniable. And while each has decided to step away in their own ways, there is an air of cautious optimism that underlines their views on the future of this industry.

“I hope the industry can slow down,” Croft expresses, “and we can move away from the monoculture of big brands dictating the style.” She pauses, “maybe there will be a light-switch moment where everyone starts to realise that fashion isn’t a disposable commodity and we need to treasure it.” 

“We need to use our creativity to come up with positive solutions that help customers understand where their clothes are coming from, what they’re made of and how what they wear impacts the planet.”

“We just don’t need more,” reiterates Willow. “We need to use our creativity to come up with positive solutions that help customers understand where their clothes are coming from, what they’re made of and how what they wear impacts the planet.”


Because, whether via Willow’s research into carbon data and how it can be harnessed to reshape fashion’s foundations, or the ways in which Arnsdorf showcased the power of radical transparency, or Croft’s focus on craft and upcycling, fashion is clearly an industry ripe for innovation, which paints its future in an exciting light.


“What I love about fashion is that it is about ideas,” Arnsdorf tells me. “It’s about always moving forward, new ways of being and the constant pursuit of a better version of oneself.” Cutting to the heart of the matter, Arnsdorf’s words give me hope that perhaps the industry’s insatiable desire for change and newness can be used to steer it away from rampant consumerism and into a better version of itself. 

Photography Core~Prêt