THE ARA ATELIER
ARA Experience’s studio is located at 172 Gilles Street in Adelaide. This space is used by ARA Experience’s staff to do everything: from designing your dresses, cutting the fabrics, and sewing your dream dress together. You could say that this is exactly where the magic happens.
Penny has always been interested in couture ever since she was given her first Barbie Doll. Fast forward to her years in high school and this is where she truly finds her love for fashion and sewing. Penny is qualified in Fashion Design and Sewing and created a 6-piece couture collection as her graduate collection. While her sewing skills are advanced, one area that she requires further training on is patternmaking and fit. This is why we have brought on a professional patternmaker as our fashion mentor to assist Penny with all of ARA’s patternmaking needs. Penny’s mentor has over 20 years’ experience in dressmaking and currently teaches future fashion designers of South Australia.
We can assure that all of our wedding gowns are made with extreme precision and finished to couture standard.
ETHICS + SUSTAINABILITY
ARA Experience is incredibly focused on ensuring that everything we do is ethically sound, and as sustainable as possible. This is at the forefront of every decision that we make.
We want to be proud of the company that ARA Experience is, and the only way that we believe this is possible is by making our greater community proud of us too.
Our atelier is and will always be run with clean and safe working conditions; our business will always abide by all Australian Labour Laws and we will always pay our employees above the minimum award rate. Our contractors are paid at an above average rate, with freedom to accept/reject jobs, choose their working hours and their working space; we follow the labour laws surrounding contractors very closely and can guarantee a fair and legal contract occurs at every job.
As we are currently too small of a business to demand safer working conditions from our suppliers overseas, we will not be able to guarantee the social and environmental impact of the following supplies: 1) All fabrics & lace, and 2) All notions, including buttons, zippers, elastics, beads etc.
Sustainability Plan
Note: Written 6/10/2021, We have had t delay our sustainability plan due to COVID conditions and the inability for us to fly overseas. This has delayed our plans by 12 months and we will be back with a new plan for 2022 in the coming months.
We are, however, proud to announce that we have implemented an action plan in place for ARA Experience. These are the milestones we look forward to hitting in sustainability plan:
- December 2021: 50% of fabrics made from sustainable materials
- December 2021: 100% of packaging made from recyclable materials (excludes garment bag and hanger)
- December 2023: 75% of fabrics made from sustainable materials
- December 2025: 90% of fabrics made from sustainable materials
Please note: All sustainable fabrics will also be sources from ethical manufacturers. Measures will be taken in the initial negotiation stages to ensure that the suppliers and manufacturers are compliant to local labour laws. The companies will also have to prove that they adhere to providing ethical working conditions to their employees. This will be checked as Matt and Penny will personally visit these factories on their yearly trip to China.
Our Progress
If we may, we would also like to boast that we have nearly hit our goal of having 100% of our packaging made from recyclable materials. You will be glad to know that our tissue paper and even our stickers are all made from biodegradable materials. Our paper materials are all made from recyclable paper and we encourage all of our brides to recycle these once they are done with it.
We are currently looking into more sustainable options for the following: 1) Tape, 2) Ribbon, 3) Garment Bag, 4) Hanger
Our Suppliers
We source most of our fabrics direct from fabric manufacturers in China, mainly in the Guangzhou Province. Some fabrics are purchase from local fabric agents, these fabrics also originate from China.
All fabric notions (buttons, zippers, elastic, clothing label, hanging tape etc.) are also sourced from China, from various suppliers and provinces.