The life cycle of every item you wear starts long before you put it on for the first time, and continues long after you wear it for the last time. It’s probably not something you’ve thought much about – and unfortunately, it’s not something every maker thinks about, either.

A.BCH is an Ethical Clothing Australia-accredited label based in Melbourne that employs circular design principles – a regenerative system in which resource input and waste, emission, and energy leakage are minimised and the full life cycle of each garment is considered.

Since its launch in 2017, A.BCH has done all its manufacturing in Melbourne, citing much greater control over production quality, minimised wastage and ability to maintain adaptive timelines as its main motivations. In this episode of The Quick Unpick, I talk to A.BCH’s Courtney Holm about creativity, transparency and accountability, and about how an ECA accreditation has helped connect her label with customers looking for ethical, Australian-made garments.