Coming together

MiiMi is delighted to have received some support through the Better Factory project to maintain the shop lease for another 12 months. This means that retail will also become a component of the mix and our shop in High Street will be selling from the end of October. (ironically 12 months later than our initial intention - BEFORE we realised that retail AND making the fashion business work were together an impossible combination at the start).

And there are more ongoing complications, for the 'mothership' organisation MiiMi Aboriginal Corporation to reach recognition as a Public Benevolent Institution the MiiMi Creations entity must step out on its own - MiiMi has been very grateful for the support of Price Waterhouse Coopers through this transition... more on that will no doubt follow very soon

FASHION PARADE LAUNCHES Junuy Jiiri

MiiMi Creations is delighted to work with Bowraville Based Mad Hatter's Cafe to launch the Junuy Jiiri range on 3 October from 12pm. The day will feature a sneak preview of the Junuy Jiiri summer range and also performances by local musicians.

The Mad Hatters Cafe will offer 'taste plates' on the day. For any further details please contact MiiMi House on 65648855 or e-mail kgrace@evolvenetwork.com.au

Junuy Jiiri range takes shape

Aunty Ruth pins the new top on Kerry who dodges pins and is utterly delighted to model from the range HINT HINT everyone else - we need you all for the upcoming fashion shoot for Junuy Jiiri

More fashion week images

SALE day and other news

On Wednesday 25 August we held the first VIP sale - very pleased to have a stampede (Bowraville style) of people in the shop and even more pleased to bank some much needed income from our outlet range. Things are looking good !

We have a great group of students in our new Tuesday sewing classes are going great guns with 6 students now joining us each week.

Image above from MNC Innovation Festival tour on 21 May in Bowraville. Aunty Ruth explains the background of the shop & MiiMi Creations.

We also have some new visitors coming over from the Nambucca Youth Services Centre to join us from time to time. Nellie continues design class currently working on some adaptations of local plants.

Trouble on the venue front as our funding is about to conclude for our shop lease and we need to source an alternate location. At this point there is too much risk involved in taking a loan so we fly by the seat of our pants for a little while again. Adding to the anticipation is the conclusion of many of our positions at the end of September - fortunately we have great support from TAFE Outreach which will see us through the next few months.

for some (pictured left) it's just all too much...

Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival

We were there !

Aunty Ruth, Carla, Deb & Kerry went on the journey from Bowraville on Tuesday 24 August arriving in Sydney at 10.30am for a whirlwind trip around the city to townhall, Chinatown then on to our fabric supplier in Surry Hills.

Soaked up the atmosphere of the meeting area & catwalk, great for market research and getting used to the industry jargon. dahling !

Valla Market 7 August 2010

A day out at the market on Saturday 7 August 2010. (Bonnie, Deb & Kerry)

It is certainly what they say about that early bird - I arrived at the market at 7.15am, a little later than expected and found our stall position would be at the back of the micro stall marquee (shared with 4 other old and new friends). We made the most of this & used the back of the stall to put up our clothes rack and hoped that would give people some room to move as they got a better look at the garments. Funny how difficult it can be to lay out a display when you're not used to it.
Luckly Bonnie had a huge collection of coat hangers & these came in really handy for our display. I practiced my folding skills but they certainly still need some polishing! (it's the little things that are so easy to overlook!) Sales were very poor but we did cover our stall fee (phew !) and more importantly gained some really valuable input about the products.

We also met with a few new potential MiiMi Creations members and supporters which really made the whole day worthwhile.

Learning on the day: our position in the marquee (at the back) wasn't great at all - We really needed a better position where people can see what we're producing without having to come all the way into the 'den'.

* It is very difficult to get the point across about this being an Aboriginal owned organisation - despite all of the signage, logos and (as you can see in the pic with me) MiiMi banner, people want to see the producers - food for thought.

Possibly the fabric that we've made cushion covers & aprons from needs to be a little more robust - however, perhaps this defeats the purpose of the 'outlet' line ? not sure. Our pricing for this market was a little out - a lot of stalls have imported stock from asia making the value of our hand made and printed stock decrease - I believe this is an issue across markets everywhere. We need to come up with ways to help people understand the authenticity of the product - some ideas brewing here... All in all though a great day for learning and discussion