Since Fella Hamilton was first released onto the market in 1969 with Australia's latest must-have fashion accessory, we have always had a focus on retaining an Australian manufacturing presence.

When Fella designed the terry towelling turban, she wanted to entrust the production of her new idea to someone she’d developed a strong relationship with, and that meant a local manufacturer. And as our operations have grown over the years, making the switch from wholesale to retail, we have always been true to those beginnings and maintained a strong local manufacturing operation.

By retaining a significant proportion of our production in Melbourne, including design, pattern making, cutting and sewing, we have much more visibility over our supply chain, control over stock levels and agility in responding to what our customers want.

And when crises hit, as they inevitably do, we are able to confidently manage our operations in response. During the COVID pandemic we were able to increase our operations when overseas stock was unavailable and reduce our local output when demand was low due to harsh lock downs, reducing unsustainable overstock. And, probably one of the most exciting outcomes of running manufacturing locally is that this enabled us to introduce the Fella Healthwear range at a time when our local Allied health workers needed it the most.

Now proudly accredited with Ethical Clothing Australia (ECA) for our Australian made collection, we maintain committed to ensuring that the people in our supply chain are treated fairly and equitably in safe working conditions.

 

AUSTRALIAN MADE RANGES

 

FELLA HAMILTON

We manufacture a significant portion of our classic Fella Hamilton label in Australia, honouring the core foundation, and the founder, of our proud family business.

 

HEDRENA

The Hedrena label has always supported Australian wool growers, being made of 100% pure Merino Australian wool. And now, from 2021, all our Hedrena garments are also manufactured in Australia.

 

FELLA HEALTHWEAR

Born in 2020 during a global pandemic, Fella Healthwear is a new product collection designed to help protect our Allied Health workers with reusable PPE. It is made in Melbourne and supplied to a wide range of allied health teams, including the Australian Defence Force. 

Most recently, the Fella Healthwear division collaborated with The Koala Kids Foundation to develop a Scrub Top for doctors and nurses who deal with sick children. Designed with a unique children’s illustration, Fella Hamilton manufactured a total of 5500 navy and white Scrub tops and each packaged with a special Koala Kids pen. Delivered to hospitals just in time for Christmas 2022, this project has brought immense joy to the team.

 

AUSTRALIAN SUPPLIERS

 

MELBOURNE TEXTILE KNITTING

Our long-standing relationship with another iconic local business, Melbourne Textile Knitting (MTK) has resulted in some of our best loved designs over the years.

In a partnership that spans over 30 years, we speak the same language - one that reminisces the good old days of a vibrant local textile and fashion manufacturing industry.

Originally owned and run by three generations of the Joseph family, MTK has been in the safe hands of long-term employee, Stephen Morris-Moody, for the last 20 years.

Stephen has a passion for creating innovative and unique fabric designs using the well-crafted machinery that has served the business since inception. Nowhere in the world can you find this approach to quality that delivers unique products to inspire our designer, who has developed a long- standing friendship with Stephen and his team.

 

PARTNERSHIPS

 

AUSTRALIAN WOOL NETWORK

When we acquired the Hedrena label providing the bricks and mortar shopping experience that Hedrena customers love, we formed a partnership with Australian Wool Network (AWN). Our two businesses hold very similar values of supporting local industry and producing high-quality garments, so this was a perfect match.

The Hedrena products are part of the AWN Direct Network Advantage (DNA) initiative, which guarantees that Australian Merino wool is used in the iconic label. Each product includes a swing tag QR code showing the source region for each garment’s wool.