A step in the right direction

A Step In The Right Direction

magikquilter October 11th, 2009

Australia’s first charity run fashion label Gideon, is now available to buy online and 100% of the profits goes to The Street University which empowers youth in Liverpool in Sydney’s Western suburbs. The Street University was started by Matt Noffs, grandson of the visionary humanitarian Ted Noffs, founder of the Wayside Chapel in Sydney’s Kings Cross.

Rupert Noffs, another grandson of Ted Noffs and his friend Gideon Silverman started the Gideon shoe range some years ago at the markets and now it is a small global business. I can’t commend these young men highly enough on their social consciousness and work ethic.

These sneakers are very reasonably priced and quite cool looking…if I were twenty years younger I would have a range of them in colours to match my outfits!

Now for some other exciting news to do with the Charity Ted Noffs….at last Australia will have an online charity shop…hopefully akin to Oxfam online whom I personally know are hoping to expand into the Australian marketplace. The online shop is coming in 2010! Yeah…can’t wait…will just have to volunteer to help get it going sooner!

Ted Noffs already have a fabulous online bookshop …OneNoffs Books …you can find out all about the philosophy behind them here.

Now possibly the most exciting thing of all for me to share with you is that Ted Noffs is looking for artisans/designers for Australia’s first customised op shop One Noffs. The designers get a cut of the profits, as does the charity as do the donations! I am soo excited as this is dear to my heart…you know I love to save fabric and clothing from the skip at various charity shops!

Remember when I made this quilt…out of fabulous fabric samples a fabric rep who later volunteered at Vinnies, saved from the sixties until 2000, only to have the manager there deem them unfit cause they stank? The whole sorry story is here by the way!

I bought as many as I dared at a dollar a piece before they were thrown out….they washed up perfectly and I dare not think about what happened to the remaining garbage bag full that I just felt too greedy to ask for.

So you can see why I am so excited about this new opportunity for upcycling in this country. If you are a designer here please contact the Ted Noffs Foundation….I know they would love to hear from you….so would I …please let me know too if you are interested.