Welcome to Ramble Folk.
a little bit about us...
Ramble Folk is an Australian made, sustainable clothing, accessories, and homewares brand.
Our one of a kind pieces, have been slowly handcrafted in our island home of lutruwita/Tasmania from upcycled, vintage, and second hand materials. These treasures have been lovingly and painstakingly thrifted and foraged from op-shops, second hand stores, vintage fabric groups, and the very back corners of your Grandma's linen cupboard, then re-imagined into 'new' upcycled designs, saying YES to the joy of re-using and upcycling, and NO to the millions of tons of textile waste and 'fast fashion' that are headed for landfill right now!!
We are proud allies of Reforest Now, Bob Brown Foundation, and The Great Forest National Park, in the fight to save Australia's Native Forests! These organisations are on the front line every day, creating massive impact, from large scale tree plantings and rainforest regeneration, to standing in the way of needless destruction in takayna, the Tarkine wilderness in Tasmania, they are taking direct action to restore and protect our wild places!
We are committed to making, packing and shipping all of our products sustainably, and plastic free! We also recognise that we are very much imperfect in our mission to reduce waste, and we are all too well aware of the many contradictions in our life. But, like you, we're here and we're trying, and we’re always learning and we care, and we teach our kids to care, and we want to show the world that there is SO much beauty left in the things that already exist in this world!
now for the tea...
I spent 3 weeks, 6 meltdowns and 37 revisions trying to write this 'about me' section.
It’s been 5000 words long and 4.5 words long and everything in between, because I am freaking terrible at selling myself! So... I won't be doing that. I’m not going to recount my Fashion Designer background, Diploma, Tasmanian Gown of the Year winning, backpacker, world travelling, Bridal Designer in London UK couture working, Australian Gown of the Year runner upping past, because that was all a bazillion years ago! I’m also not going to tell you that I have a part time job that I love, working as a Corporate Events Manager, with the most awesome group of people, because they may get ahead of themselves and think they no longer have to work for my love.
What I will tell you is that I registered my business name for Ramble Folk in January 2020 when our country was literally on fire, because I desperately wanted to help. Because I wanted to plant trees. Because I wanted to be able to give more than my regular $50 monthly donation to Greening Australia. Because I needed to feel that I was doing more than just re-tweeting AOC and Bernie Sanders, and posting inflammatory political posts on Facebook (sorry Dad ;) and because I dragged my kids (willingly) out of school on September 20th 2019 to attend the Global School Strike for Climate and have never felt more inspired to do something in my life.
Now, obviously a lot happened immediately after January 2020, covid came and things got very weird, so I was more concerned with the fact that I may have to replace toilet paper with newspaper, and how damaged my kids would be after months of me being their teacher, than I was with starting a business, but I made it back! I picked it back up at the end of 2020, and my business plan/idea had changed quite dramatically by then. Life felt a bit more fragile. Our environment a bit more at risk. Our ability to rely on other countries for our basic needs a bit less certain. Ramble Folk became 100% made in Australia and it became more about, slow sustainability, upcycling, and re-using what we already have, than buying more things we don't need!
Also, I have this goal...dream, and a really cool chick once told me that leaving it unfulfilled was making my heart sick (it’s a whole thing, hope deferred, tree of life, etc). I’ve wanted to design my own fashion label since I was 17 years old. That dream has since morphed into wanting to design a sustainable, slow fashion clothing line, ethically made in Australia, but let’s not get tied up in the details. Ramble Folk is that label.
Thanks for coming on the journey with me!
Bel xx
