On The Upside: Retail Training Excursion!

Last week The Social Outfit Retail Trainees went on an excursion with THE UPSIDE. CEO Paul Burdekin and his passionate and energetic team offered our young retail trainees a day of work experience in their business including in retail, design, production and even the accounting department.

Partnering with values-aligned companies and brands to offer excursions and employment transition pathways is integral to our programs’ success.

For the trainees, seeing how to apply the skills they have learned with our Retail Trainer Nat in our Newtown store, to new environments, supports them in career pathway development, boosts confidence and allows our partners to identify new talent for entry-level roles in their businesses.

Paul Burdekin of THE UPSIDE shared “We’re grateful for the opportunity to partner with The Social Outfit. As a brand, we’ve long been committed to the notion of supporting others and giving back. We benefited as much if not more out of the experience - there are few better feelings than supporting others and to see and hear the enjoyment that Sharifa, Kotha, Jihan and Suraya expressed was truly uplifting. We look forward to welcoming future trainees to THE UPSIDE and continuing the partnership with The Social Outfit.”

The relationship with THE UPSIDE began during our 2021 Campaign – VOICES for Afghanistan. The Social Outfit and Australian Fashion Aid brought together over 50 fashion brands to join us in calling upon the Government to settle more Afghan refugees in the wake of the Taliban take over of the country last August. Some of these brands have made a commitment to employ recently arrived Afghan refugees in their business where possible.

A huge thank you to THE UPSIDE for being such wonderful hosts to our Retail Trainees! If you are or know of a fashion or retail business who would like to partner with us to support young women from refugee backgrounds, please contact us at info@thesocialoutfit.org!