Login
iscover
Promoted by Australian Defence Apparel
The unveiling of ADA’s recent campaign “MEET THE MAKERS” celebrates local garment workers and takes the viewers behind the scenes into the production process of Australian Defence Force combat and field uniforms.
Australia in COVID crisis exposed unreliable and stagnated supply chains across the country, and the pandemic necessity was found to be the mother of invention in the past year. Securing sovereign capability and building resilient supply chains continued to be the topic of every conversation and local suppliers equipped to pivot production capacities experienced the lockdown boom.
Amidst the global trade instability, Australian Defence Apparel (ADA) launched its newest campaign dedicated to local manufacturing and supporting the local maker sat its Bendigo manufacturing plant; a group of 130 locals from the region who produce combat and general duties uniforms predominantly for the Australian Defence Force.
The campaign featured a 360-degree Virtual Tour of the factory with a collection of films by the skilled local makers highlighting their journey, diversity of skills and decades of involvement with the ADF building enhanced capability and safety for the Australian soldier ensembles seen today.
The “quiet achievers” as many of the makers call themselves spoke out for the first time in the history of ADA’s 100+ years of operation to shine a light on the their hopes for the garment industry while advocating for continued support towards local and ethical manufacturing.
 |
 |
Australian Defence Apparel (ADA) is Australia’s largest remaining uniform manufacturing facility spanning over 5772m2 and situated on 2.023 Hectares producing over 16,000 units of locally made clothing per month. The company’s steady growth and rise in local production levels was a purposeful move made with local jobs in mind.Significant investments have been made with the addition of state-of-the-art garment manufacturing equipment to move all aspects of the production line in house to bolster capacity, training and jobs.
“Contrary to popular beliefs, the more technology and digitisation the factory brings in, the more staff we need to operate and maintain the newer equipment. This provides us with opportunity to train, upskill, retain staff and diversify manufacturing capabilities to remain agile.” said Kerry Hodges, Factory Manager at Australian Defence Apparel.
ADA and its Bendigo facility recently transformed its production capabilities when selected to produce Government ordered fabric face masks in response to Victoria’s fight against COVID 19. The mask manufacturing project was secured purely due to the ethical accreditation ADA has held with Ethical Clothing Australia for over 20 years.
“Local and ethical manufacturing is no longer an option.It’s a necessity. Nobody thinks that global supply chains are going away. However, when our clients are starting to ask the right question and they want to know where their clothes are made, we can then connect them with the people that make the clothing.This is what the virtual tour is aiming to do. The ability for ADA to increase locally made products is possible and that’s what we need to do to ensure we maintain a viable, sustainable world-class local manufacturing industry here in Australia.” says Chris Dixon CEO Australian Defence Apparel.
To enter the Virtual Tour and visit the ADA Bendigo Manufacturing facility link click the below.
Author – Australian Defence Apparel
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/australian-defence-apparel-pty-ltd/
Instagram: @australiandefence_apparel
