Board Members & Contributors

Over a 30+ year career, David Hardie has worked in government, nonprofit and philanthropy organisations, most recently at the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation and The Myer Foundation. David’s professional background is the government sector, holding managerial positions at Sydney Water Corporation from 1998 to 2007.

He also has extensive volunteer experience in diverse roles, including telephone counselling, refugee settlement assistance and youth mentoring. David is a Director of Slingsby Holdings Pty Ltd, the Founder and Director of the Slingsby Foundation and the Chair of The Social Outfit Board.

Amy Low is a marketing specialist with over ten years in the fashion industry, working with retailers and wholesalers from brand concept through to product development, retail management and marketing. Amy currently holds the position of  Brand & Marketing Director of Piping Hot Australia. She was previously the Marketing Director of Saban brands. Formerly a litigation lawyer, Amy left law to focus on growing and nurturing brands, helping them translate their creative vision into memorable customer experiences. She has worked in a marketing capacity with well-known Australian brands Myer, VB, R.M. Williams and Penfolds, gaining experience building brands and winning with customers in the digital era. Amy is the Vice Chair of The Social Outfit Board.

Author, inspirational speaker, performer, mother, wife and former refugee turned Founder and CEO of the Aminata Maternal Foundation. Aminata was born in Sierra Leone, growing up in Freetown. She is passionate about sharing her experience as a refugee woman, and is an advocate for the rights of women and global action to combat violence against women. She regularly addresses community groups, schools and the media. Aminata is also extremely passionate about fashion, having worked for David Lawrence for almost 10 years as store manager. Aminata’s story has been an intrinsic part of Ros Horin’s critically acclaimed theatre production, The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe and is now told in her biography, Rising Heart, with Juliet Rieden, published in May 2020 by Pan Macmillan Australia.

Jaana Quaintance-James is the Chief Sustainability Officer of Global Fashion Group, the parent company of four online retailers, including THE ICONIC in Australia. In her role Jaana is responsible for delivering the business’ comprehensive sustainability strategy in Ethical Sourcing, Environment and Community across 19 countries.

Jaana draws on 15 years’ experience in multi-category retail developing and implementing change programs that deliver sustainability and ethical sourcing objectives. With a strong expertise in internal and external stakeholder engagement, Jaana has deep knowledge of both the issues on the ground and how to drive forward long lasting change.

Janine Collins, Principal of J9 Consulting, draws on 30 years in national and international business development to build investment in creative industries and culture through business partnerships, philanthropy, place making, cultural tourism and commercial activities while building the capacity of non-profit organisations. 

Janine founded 14 vocational training centres and completed international consultancies for AusAid prior to raising 30M+ for the human rights, education and arts sectors. She has provided strategic advice to leading organisations Sydney Dance Company, The Guardian and AIATSIS. Her award winning partnerships have been recognised by Creative Partnerships Australia amongst others.

Melissa is a Senior Manager at EY in Accounting Compliance & Reporting. She was formerly the Corporate Finance Manager at Brookfield and a Client Manager in Deloitte's not for profit specialist group in NSW. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants and has over nine years experience working within audit and advisory in a diverse range of industries with a strong focus on the not for profit sector.

Poetic Energy balanced by Precise Structure is the essence of the Bianca Spender Brand. Designs are enduring, empowering, and impressive.

Our first ambassador Carla Zampatti, held a key role in introducing us to the Australian fashion industry leading to many different collaborations with the likes of Romance Was Born, Linda Jackson and more. Bianca Spender has now stepped into the role and is working with The Social Outfit to strengthen our connection with Australian fashion industry and tell our story.

A leading Australian designer for over 10 years, Bianca Spender has a personal history. As the daughter of Australian Fashion Matriarch Carla Zampatti, she has grown up in the business, and is now forging her own independent identity as a womenswear designer of integrity.

Andrea Shaw is a multidisciplinary artist who designed a textile print for our 2016 summer collection, The Social Outfit World.

Drawing from her studies in landscape architecture and textile design, strong relationships between colour, pattern, surface and space inform her practice.

Andrea’s practice is varied and she experiments with textiles, wood, paper, vinyl and different paint mediums. Her expressive artworks investigate ideas of travel, movement and mapping. She lives and works in Torquay, Victoria.

Brosis are a Sydney-based film studio who directed our first short fashion film, The Social Outfit World. 

Believing in the power of telling meaningful stories through film, their vision is to create beautiful, emotionally engaging content that will speak universal ideas, reminding people of their connectedness with each other and the world we live in.

They have produced work for Uniqlo, Dulux, Qantas, SBS, Raffles College and music videos for Hollow States, Olympic Ayres and Jinja Safari.

Byron is a Sydney-based photographer who shot our 2015 campaign, The Social Outfit Spirit.

His body of work spans fashion photography, art and film, and has its origins in the styles and eccentricities of the world around him. His highly visual and playful style has lent imagery to publications such as Vogue Italia, Dazed and Confused, i-D Magazine, Milk, Nylon, Oyster, Yen, Grazia, and Vogue Australia. 

Byron's advertisement campaigns include General Pants, Pierre Cardin, Ksubi, Mambo, Emma Mulholland, ASOS, Top Shop, Manning Cartell, KMS, Cotton On and RMK.

Chris Gaul studied Visual Communication Design and International Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney and at Yunnan Normal University, Kunming. His work integrates philosophies and methods from art and design to explore the potential for creating moments of contemplation and curiosity in everyday life. In addition to exhibiting his work in group and solo exhibitions he also curates exhibitions, writes and lectures on art and design and teaches in the UTS School of Design in Sydney and Hong Kong.

Clare Press is the presenter of the Wardrobe Crisis podcast and Australian VOGUE's Sustainability Editor-at-Large.

A passionate advocate for ethical fashion, she is Australia's go-to journalist on the subject, and sits on the Australian advisory board of Fashion Revolution. 

Clare is the author of three books: The Dressing Table, Wardrobe Crisis, How We Went From Sunday Best to Fast Fashion, and Rise & Resist.

Clementine Barnes is a visual artist based in Sydney. In 2019 she completed a Master of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, which included a research project investigating workers’ rights in the RMG sector in Bangladesh. Her current interest is how we can take a Human Rights Based Approach to Sustainability and the intersection this has with the Circular Economy.

Clementine has facilitated pro-bono online craft classes for The Social Outfit's migrant community and in 2020 will work on a Digital Print Project with TSO.

David Ajak Ajang was the inaugural Chair of The Social Outfit. He stepped down from the Board in December 2015, having been involved in the organisation’s development since late 2012.

Ajak has worked professionally with the refugee and migrant communities in different capacities since 2003. He is currently the Communities in Cultural Transitions Project Officer at the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS).

Dragstar is a much-loved Newtown fashion label who collaborated with us on a textile print for our Colour Chameleon collection in 2014.

Launched in the mid nineties, the hands on approach of the label's founder and designer, Celia Morris, extends to every aspect of the Dragstar brand. Local production and creating garments that will stand the test of time is Dragstar’s design ethos, with a range that is unique and full of custom fabrics and original cuts.

Eloise Rapp is a Sydney based artist and designer who consults with us on design projects and marketing.

Her work in textile and graphic design explores the synergy between the natural and built world through refined combinations of digital and hand-rendered techniques. Her style plays on unusual colour schemes, evocative patterns and sublime textures. 

She has worked in design studios and educational institutions in Sydney, Melbourne and Tokyo, and is currently a casual academic at UTS School of Design. She has worked with Ken Done, Vantan Design Institute, The Old Clare Hotel, WGSN, L’Officiel Magazine and Art & About.

Georgia Blackie is a photographer and artist who has worked closely with us on several campaigns including e-commerce, lookbooks and event coverage.

Her photography reflects the strong influence of her home in Sydney's Blue Mountains, where weather, scent and the seasons come into force.

Georgia's work has appeared in RUSSH, Pages Digital, Broadsheet, NYLON (US), Oyster and Pitch-Present, and she has been featured in Frankie Magazine, ALAS Journal, Broadsheet Sydney and MTNS MADE.

Ginger & Smart designs for spirited women whose distinctive style is an expression of their individuality. A sense of cool confidence and discovery underpins the luxury contemporary design aesthetic of the brand, which seeks to combine the polished and the playful aspects of a woman.

Founded in 2002 by Sydney-based sisters Alexandra and Genevieve Smart, the inspiration to establish the business came from the desire to combine family talent to build a strong fashion-lifestyle brand.

Ginger & Smart has 9 dynamic stores that showcase the essence of the brand to their discerning customers. The label is placed with carefully selected stores throughout the world and is available in over 40 boutiques in Australia.

Grace McQuilten is the founding CEO and current board member of The Social Studio in Melbourne, the sister organisation to The Social Outfit. She is a Lecturer in Art History and Theory at RMIT University.

Her background is in the arts as an art historian and curator interested in contemporary art and design and community development.
Grace is an advisor to Twich Women's Sewing Collective (Dandenong) and a board member for the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand.

Jackie Ruddock was the founding CEO of  The Social Outfit from 2012 to March 2019. She has worked professionally within the charity sector for 12+ years, and in the social entrepreneurship sector for 7+ years in Australia. Jackie is a project manager and researcher in the fields of education, health, communications, multiculturalism and sexuality/gender. Jackie previously held senior management roles at The School for Social Entrepreneurs, FAR Social Enterprise, and Streetwize Communications.

She has also worked as a Research Associate at the Journalism and Media Research Centre, University of NSW, at the Twenty10 Association and Family Planning NSW. 

Karina Olen is an Australian illustrator and designer working predominantly in portrait and fashion illustration. Using a combination of pencils, watercolour, ink pens and chalk pastels, Karina brings images to life on the page with captivating realness. She is an ambassador for Copic Marker AUS/NZ and was named one of the top 8 Illustrators creating amazing custom gifts by The Huffington Post in 2015. Regularly working on commissioned pieces and illustrating at live events, Karina illustrates for private and commercial clients.

Kate has worked on a diverse multidisciplinary art based practice with silkscreen printing, sculpture and painting, through to collaborations in fashion, music, illustration and advertising with explorations into light, colour and graphic motifs with an experimental, intuitive and often playful foundation.

She has exhibited in group and solo shows Internationally and her work is collected and commissioned by private, public and corporate collectors worldwide.

Hong Kong-born, Melbourne-based contemporary artist Kate beynon works in various media, exploring ideas of mixed cultural identity, storytelling and 'good spirits' for the world.

Participating in over 120 exhibitions and projects in Australia and internationally, Kate's work is held in many collections and is represented by Sutton Gallery, Melbourne and Milani Gallery, Brisbane.

Ken Done is one of Australia's most loved and celebrated artists. We were very lucky to collaborate with Ken on a textile print for our debut Colour Chameleon collection in 2014

Ken's first solo exhibition was held in Sydney in 1980. Since then, he has held over 50 one-man shows, including major exhibitions in Australia, Europe, Japan and the USA.

His work has been described as the most original style to come out of Australia, and his paintings are in collections throughout the world.

Kirsten Lee lectures in Fashion at UTS, Ethical Textiles for Masters at UNSW Art & Design, and guest lectures in Ethical Fashion. She is a Committee Member for Fashion Revolution AUS NZ and in the midst of conducting her thesis research in Ethical Fashion Education at RMIT.

She has worked as a textile and fashion designer in the Fashion Industry for many years for both large scale and small labels. She is also a yoga teacher & believes the theory & practice of conscious living and mindfulness can be applied to fashion design, in terms of its impact both socially and environmentally.

Linda Jackson is an iconic fashion designer and artist who we were fortunate to collaborate with on a textile print for our debut Colour Chameleon collection in 2014.

Linda has played a fundamental role in the development of a distinctly Australian approach to fashion design. As both an artist and designer, she devised unique forms of clothing that evolved beyond the sphere of seasonal trends, defying the limits of Western fashion by drawing on an eclectic mix of influences from India, Africa, Asia and Australia.

Nina was the Vice Chair of The Social Outfit until December 2019. Nina is founder of the contemporary interior design firm, Nina Maya Interiors. She has had an extensive design career internationally whilst exploring her passion for philanthropy by holding several board directorships in the not for profit sector. Nina is a Trustee of the Sky Foundation, a member of the Philanthropy Australia New Generation of Giving Program and co-founder of 10x10 Philanthropy. Previously Nina was one of Australia’s most outstanding fashion designers having launched her ‘Nina Maya’ label in 2006.

Peter is a freelance stylist and creative director who is one of our key creative advisors, applying his fashion & styling direction on all of our 2015 and 2016 projects.

Working across print and motion campaigns, editorial, portrait, celebrity, runway and costume, his diverse list of clients ranges from Hermes and Romance was Born to Westfield and the Sydney Dance Company.

Peter has worked as the senior fashion editor at InStyle Magazine as well as the fashion editor at Grazia Australia.

Dr Rebecca Huntley is one of Australia's foremost researchers on social trends. She is the author of numerous books, and was a feature writer for Australian Vogue, a columnist for BRW and the presenter of Drive on a Friday on Radio National.

She is on the Artistic Advisory Board of the Bell Shakespeare Company, an adjunct senior lecturer at the School of Social Sciences at The University of New South Wales and a board member of The Whitlam Institute.

Sonya Price-Kelly is a design practitioner combining creativity with social impact. With an extensive background in social justice advocacy, project management and community engagement, Sonya embarked on a new journey to complete a Bachelor of Design at the University of New South Wales in 2019.Through her focal mediums of textiles, ceramics and photography, Sonya’s work is reflective and observational, incorporating narratives which prompt thought and positive change. Her aim is to combine her unique skills through creative projects which celebrate diversity and facilitate inclusion, are person-centred and collaborative.

Rob Haggett is a Management Consultant in Ernst & Young’s Advisory Services practice, based in Sydney. His industry experience covers the finance, international aid and development, government, non-profit (NGO) and entertainment sectors. He has worked in the UK, Australia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Nepal and Fiji.

Romance Was Born is an inspirational contemporary Australian fashion house fusing together a unique story telling vision with design prowess. Renowned duo Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales are known for their ability to transform any theme or inspiration into a glimmering chimerical fashion paradise full of wonderment.

Artistic collaboration is an integral part of design for Romance Was Born, who choose to collaborate with artists or brands that share their creative passion and are dedicated to their own process, seeing them collaborate with Disney, Marvel, Lego, May Gibbs, Linda Jackson, Jenny Kee, the Sydney Theatre Company and the National Gallery of Victoria.

VERSUS are a creative video content studio founded by director collective Tanya Babic, Brad Jarrett, and Jason Sukadana.

They're a team of video creatives who work with agencies and brands to conceptualise and create films for the modern world; whether that means 3 seconds, 3 minutes or 3 episodes.

Their combined background in live-action and post-production means they create exceptional visual experiences and engaging stories of any scale, from branded content to TV commercials and everything in between.