Fearless blog
At Fearless, we think a lot about what it feels like when clothes don't work for you.
The wrong cut or the wrong size. The swimsuit you dread putting on instead of just getting on with life.
So when we got the chance to spend a day with Thread Together, an Australian clothing charity helping people experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, crisis and natural disasters, we were in.
So, what does Thread Together actually do?
Thread Together was founded in 2012 by Andie Halas with a pretty simple idea: donate, don't dispose.
Instead of perfectly good new clothing ending up in landfill, Thread Together gets it into the hands of people who actually need it.
The model is simple:
- Fashion brands donate new clothing
- Volunteers sort it, pack it and fulfil orders
- Charities connect Thread Together with people who need support
- Clothes get a second life instead of heading to landfill
And importantly, people receive clothing selected with their needs in mind. Everyone wins. Especially the person opening the package.
Yes, swimwear too.
When someone loses everything, a swimsuit probably isn't top of the list. But everything really does mean everything.
For a woman leaving domestic violence, or a family who has lost their home to fire or flood, it can mean every drawer, every outfit and yes - even the swimmers hanging on the back of the bathroom door.
That's why we donated an entire season of past-style stock to Thread Together.
The stock had become redundant after customer feedback pushed us to rethink our sizing from the ground up - a decision that saw us invest $100k into making the Fearless fit better. We could have left the old stock sitting in a warehouse. Instead, we wanted it to go somewhere it could actually matter.
Our day on the floor.
Our job sounded simple enough: unpack, sort, repeat.
Then we were each handed a profile. A real person, their age and their needs and sometimes their style. The pieces they were actually looking for.
Suddenly, it wasn't just a pile of clothes. It was someone's wardrobe.
"You stop thinking, Will this fit? And start thinking, Would she love this? Would this work for her? Is this something she would actually choose for herself?"
By the end of the day, our team had worked through a month's worth of requests for a women's shelter in Sydney.
It felt like an enormous responsibility to hand select clothes for a person in crisis, hoping you were choosing styles they would want to wear - especially important when they don't own much.
Why it hit close to home.
Fearless exists because we believe confidence isn't a size. Women deserve clothes designed around the bodies they actually have - not the other way around.
Thread Together is coming at it from a different angle, but the belief is pretty similar: everyone deserves clothes chosen with them in mind. Something that feels considered, that fits, that is brand new with the tags on and gives you a little bit of yourself back.
Because dignity isn't an added extra, it's essential to helping someone rebuild their self-esteem and life.
Whether it's a swimsuit that finally fits the way it should, or a piece of clothing chosen specifically for a woman starting over, the feeling matters. And honestly, that's something we're pretty proud to be part of.
Want to get involved?
Thread Together relies on brands willing to donate, volunteers willing to get stuck in, and people willing to help keep good clothing in circulation. If you can give, please donate. If you can volunteer and experience the day we had, even better.
Help keep good clothing in circulation.
Thread Together does extraordinary work with donations from brands and time from volunteers. If you can, get involved.
Donate to Thread Together Volunteer with Thread Together
