Update Toolkit 2023

YOUR GUIDE TO ECA WEEK!

Introduction

We are excited to launch our ECA Week 2023 Toolkit for our accredited businesses this year!

ECA Week is a time to celebrate all that you and your employees do to keep Australia’s Textile, Clothing and Footwear (TCF) Industry ethical, vibrant and… continuing to manufacture locally!

We hope this year, between the 9th to 15th October you can find a moment to celebrate. It may be a morning tea for your workers, for some, it may be an opportunity to showcase your brand to the broader public. Whatever way you choose to participate, we hope that it is a time of positive reflection and acknowledgement of your contribution to the industry in Australia.

We know it has been another big year for you all in the TCF Industry in Australia. You have

shared with us the challenges you have been facing – whether it be economic pressures, workforce issues, the ongoing impact of COVID-19 or, some other challenge – we have heard it hasn’t been easy. Here at ECA, we’d like to say a big thank you to all of you. We know exploitation continues to persist, both here in Australia and globally. It is just as complex and challenging to address now as it has been in the past. It is your commitment to ECA accreditation and the rigorous compliance audit process, which is stamping out exploitation and creating a more ethical TCF industry in Australia. Well done and congratulations! We look forward to working with you in the year ahead.

Rachel Reilly and the ECA Team.

Save the Date

Ethical Clothing Australia

Week (ECA Week) is back in 2023! We are thrilled to announce that after predominantly online activities over the past couple of years, ECA Week is going both digital and in real life for 2023! Save the dates, 9th October – 15th October 2023.

ECA Week is the only week focused on ethically accredited Australian manufacturers and locally made textiles, clothing and footwear. It’s our chance to celebrate and promote ECA-accredited businesses that support these values and most importantly the skilled local workers behind the garments in Australia. To make it a success we’re looking to you, our ECAaccredited businesses, to embrace the week and start thinking about how you can get involved. We encourage you to plan both in person and digital activations to help spread the word about #ECAWEEK2023.

Celebrate and Recognise Your Skilled Workers

We’ve got lots of ideas for activities with impact, whether you are a sole trader, small business or a nation wide business, there are many ways in which you can take action and show your #ECAWEEK2023.

ECA exists to protect and uphold the rights of our talented garment workers. We encourage you to use ECA Week 2023 to show your appreciation and acknowledge the valued skills of your workers and their contribution to your business.

A few ideas to get you thinking:

• Host a special lunch or meeting for your workers.

• Send an ECA Thank You postcard to your outworkers.

• Gift your team something as a thank you.

• Highlight your in-house workers, and those throughout your business’s supply chain, by interviewing and sharing their stories across your social media (be sure to gain consent before sharing images/stories).

Downloadable Digital Assets

We understand that you are busy, to make it a little easier for you we have created a suite of social media, email newsletter and digital assets for you to download and rollout across your promotional materials during ECA Week 2023.

Promote Your Business

Here are some other ideas on how your business can get involved in ECA Week:

• Host a factory or studio tour (you can also live-stream it across your digital channels).

• Host a ticketed event for the public.

• Record an Instagram live conversation for your audience with one of your workers, or another colleague to discuss your values and why ECA accreditation is important for your business.

• Share photos of the people who make your clothes on social media.

• Invite your local Member of Parliament or Senator to visit your business

• Create a social media competition.

• Submit an offer for the ECA Week Gift Guide, such as an incentive for customers to purchase goods during ECA Week to show their support. This can include a discount code at checkout or a gift with purchase. This only applies to ECA accredited Australian made items including the manufacturing of the gift with purchase item.

Important: Please submit your ECA Week 2023 events & activities to ECA before July 12th via the button below. If we have not received your activities by this date, we unfortunately will not be able to include them in our promotional materials.

How to Plan a Successful Event

Audience

Who are you targeting with your event? Is it a celebration to thank your workers or an event to raise the profile of your business in your local community? Are you wanting to reach existing and potential customers or drive sales through a special promotion? Is it a physical event or digital? Many physical events translate easily into virtual events. An Instagram live tour of your studio or an online Q&A with special guest speakers, for example.

Get Feedback

Ask your workers/team members for ideas about how to run the event. Engage with them early to get them excited about the week. ECA Week is a chance to celebrate the skilled workers behind the garments, so find a way to incorporate them in the event e.g: as one of your speakers.

Event Size

Bigger is not always better. Larger events can take more planning and resources. Keep it manageable for your business and workload.

Collaborate

Consider partnering with another ECA accredited business for an event. We can help put you in touch with other businesses that are interested in collaborating.

Timing

Ideally your event will be held during ECA WEEK- but what day and time? A daytime event is great if you’re holding an event for your workers but consider an after-hours or weekend event if you are targeting customers or the broader public. Don’t forget to check your peak engagement times on social media if you are live streaming too!

Venue

It isn’t always possible to hold an event onsite. Alternative venues include meeting rooms at your local council building, local library, café’s, event spaces or neighbourhood house. OR online via Zoom!

Speakers and Special Guests

If you want to invite a special guest to attend your event, try to lock them in as early as possible. You might want to invite your local MP, or someone from ECA or the TCF Union. Send them a save the date invite ASAP while you’re nailing down the details of the event.

Budget

Your event doesn’t need to cost a lot to have impact. Q&A sessions, conversational events and online events are great low-cost options.

Promotion

How will you let people know about your event? Social media is a great way to get the word out. Create a Facebook event and post regular updates from your social media channels encouraging people to RSVP. Don’t forget to use the #ECAWEEK2023 hashtag and tag @ethicalclothingaustralia when promoting your event so we can share!

How to Engage Your Local MP or Senator

The following letter can be mailed/emailed to your local state and/or federal Member of Parliament (MP). MPs are interested in what’s happening in their electorate, so make sure you include plenty of information about how many people you employ, how the business has changed, and why you’re committed to producing locally. You can also include a copy of the ECA Fact Sheet on display at the end of this toolkit. This is available as a downloadable asset on the link above. We have included a link to both state and federal lists to the right:

Parliament of Victoria

Parliament of New South Wales

Parliament of South Australia

Parliament of Tasmania

Queensland Parliament

Parliament of Western Australia

Parliament of Australia

How to Engage Media

If you are holding an event (digital or in person) during ECA Week 2023, let local media know in advance so they can help you to promote it! We have put together a few tips and a media release template to help! The best way to let media know of your ECA Week event is via email, with a followup phone call. Contact details for your local newspaper can

Draft a media release with the basic details of the event, plus some important information about your business, along with some background information about ECA Week.

Mention trends or data that paint a picture about the demand for ethically made garments. (E.G. how many pairs of jeans produced each day/week? Or showcase your businesses recent achievements locally).

be found in the print version of the paper, (usually on the inside first page) or on their website’s contact page.

Local newspapers will want to print the story during Ethical Clothing Australia Week, (newspapers usually come out on a Wednesday), so you need to distribute the media release in the week commencing 16th August or earlier.

Think about something that may attract the eye of your local media. The media will be more likely to attend if you have an interesting picture opportunity. (E.G., ‘Local MP meets garment workers during Ethical Clothing Australia Week’ or ‘Longest serving staff member cutting fabric atfactory’ or ‘Garment workers sorting and packing uniforms’ in your local neighbourhood).

Current news events provide a great factual point of reference for your media release. You can link to news stories related to the textile industry, such as investing in Australian manufacturing or modern slavery issues.

Remember: A winning media release should be short and snappy, use simple language, and be limited to one page only.

Tip 1

Tip 2

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Tip 5 Tip 3

Spread the Word

We’ll have a dedicated web page, blog, events, email newsletter, gift guide and social media activity to support ECA Week 2023. We encourage you to submit your activities, events and digital activity to us so that we can include this in our promotions and in turn help promote your business during the week. Reminder, all activities MUST be submitted to ECA by no later than July 12th.

A simple way that you can show your support is by downloading and displaying an ECA Week 2023 Poster in your shop windows or at your factory/ offices. You might also like to photograph your workers with these posters and share across your digital channels.

Did you know?

That the manufacturing supply chain for a single garment involves up to

That more than different processes involving multiple workers and suppliers?

Australian textile, clothing and footwear businesses have ECA accreditation.

ECA’s accreditation program was created in response to

rising concerns

about the exploitation of Australian TCF workers, particularly of outworkers.

physical audit

That taking part in the ECA’s accreditation program involves a of all in house operations and any outsourced activities. This can also mean visits to outworkers who are predominately working from their homes.

The Compliance Officers from the Textile, Clothing and Footwear (TCF) Union that work with Ethical Clothing Australia

find breaches

on almost every audit that is undertaken, with superannuation, incorrect payments and Occupational Health and Safety breaches high on the list.

In the past year, compliance audits uncovered

1290 breaches

Research has found that accredited labelling can

influence a consumer's purchase

decisions at the point of sale, as it reminds them of the ethical concerns involved in clothing production.

386

310

209

Of these, were related to Health and Safety, in relation to Workers Compensation and related to Supply Chain Relationships.

The TCF Union supported ECA accredited businesses to remedy these breaches and ultimately ensuring the workers were paid and working in safe conditions.

ethicalclothingaustralia.org.au instagram.com/ethicalclothingaustralia twitter.com/EthicalClothing facebook.com/EthicalClothingAustralia #ECAWEEK2023