• We partner with independent Aboriginal artists + Aboriginal art centres to develop textile designs suitable for yardage printing
• For each collection we license designs through Arts Law and Copyright Agency - we pay artists a royalty for each metre we print
• These designs are screenprinted onto fabric at Publisher Textiles in Sydney
• The screenprinted fabric is sent to our ethical clothing manufacturers, also in Sydney, where a team of talented workers sew the clothing
• We return to the community to shoot the collection; and engage Aboriginal models wherever possible
• We sell clothing to our customers online and at popups around Australia. With each piece, we share the story of the artist, artwork and community

We aim to create impact in every part of the business.

To date we have:

• Licensed designs from 52 artists, generating over $403,000 in royalty payments
• Engaged 32 screen printers in communities
• Worked with 56 Aboriginal models
• Engaged 10 extra support workers while we are in communities - as interpreters, drivers, chief model wrangler etc.
• Helped facilitate 17 opportunities for artists that have followed on from a Magpie Goose collaboration - e.g. being feature artist for Finders Keepers market, running weaving workshops at Woodford, enterprise exposure trips to Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, etc.  
• Delivered a product development / earring workshop to 57 artists, generating $3000 for artists

Read more about our social impact here.

Magpie Goose is a collective effort - learn more about our partners and collaborators here.

Maggie and Laura pictured with artist, friend + model Samara Billy and her daughter Letty-Boo.

Maggie McGowan and Laura Egan founded Magpie Goose in 2016.

"We are two non-Indigenous women committed to creating a better Australia. This led us to start and run a clothing label that creates a platform for Aboriginal people to tell their stories using the medium of textile design. We believe the world will be richer as a result of being introduced to these diverse Aboriginal storytellers, and by having a chance to celebrate them by wearing their clothing.

Our collaborations are equitable and respectful - we work with artists and storytellers who want to see wearable art created with their designs.

The reality of what most people in remote communities face is very bleak - limited job opportunities, and a punitive work for the dole regime. We both believe collaborative social enterprise is a more humane and empowering alternative to the current situation faced by the majority of Aboriginal people living in remote Australia.

Magpie Goose is us saying “we can and must do better.”

In March 2021 Maggie + Laura transferred Magpie Goose ownership + leadership to Brisbane creative duo Amanda Hayman and Troy Casey. The business is now Aboriginal owned and led, with majority Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff.

How Magpie Goose came to be

"We grew up - like many Australians - without an understanding of whose land we were on. We had very limited connection with Aboriginal culture. As adults, we worked to seek out Aboriginal people, culture and stories - and when we did we felt outraged and sad that we had been deprived of this knowledge and friendship for so long.

Magpie Goose evolved out of our shared commitment to work for economic and social justice in remote Australia. Our work started in different ways - Laura used her entrepreneurial flair to support Aboriginal communities who wanted to engage in creative enterprise. She founded Enterprise Learning Projects (ELP) in 2010. Maggie started out working as a welfare rights lawyer with NAAJA, in Darwin, Katherine and remote Top End communities." - Co-founders Maggie and Laura

In April 2016 Laura asked Maggie what she would be doing if she wasn’t working as a lawyer with NAAJA. Maggie said she’d love to do something with the incredible textiles being produced by remote community art centres - "they should be everywhere!". She had a vision for a business that would share them with the world as wearable art AND create much needed economic opportunities for Aboriginal people living remotely. Laura could see the potential for vast impact to be created - she was already working with numerous communities who didn’t have art centres and were searching for ways to share their culture and stories.

Magpie Goose, as it was named that night, would act as a platform: to create opportunities for people to generate income from telling their stories and sharing their culture. It would produce clothing that would enable people from all over the world to connect with and learn about Aboriginal stories and culture.