FAQ

General

Is Magpie Goose Aboriginal owned?

Yes. Magpie Goose is owned and managed by Amanda Hayman (Wakka Wakk/Kalkadoon) and Troy Casey (Kamilaroi), the couple took on the company in 2021.

Artists

How do you approach your collaborations with artists?

Before we engage in any collaboration with an individual artist, community group or art centre, our team will initially propose a collaboration with Magpie Goose. The proposal for collaboration/partnership is reviewed and agreed on by the artists, art centre management group, or art centre board.

If the proposal is successful, we continue to closely consult with the artist/s on how their art or designs will be used, how they will be acknowledged, and how they will be remunerated for their work.

How do you acknowledge the artists who’ve created designs for Magpie Goose?

Our relationships with artists, Country and community is something we treasure, respect and honour. We intend to tell the story of the art and the artist we are working with as much as possible when we are producing any collection or range.

Along with our commitment to using our platform to provide as much economic opportunity as we can for artists and community, we use our platforms and community online and in-store, with artists bios online, and printed keepsake postcards that (added to each order) tell the wearer where the art originated from, the artist/s profile, and the story behind the print.

Where we can, we create videos of the artist/s taking us through the process about their art/design, a bit about themselves, their mob, and the community where they live and produce the art.

What are your plans to offer further training + employment opportunities for Aboriginal people?

Since March 2021, Magpie Goose is under 100% Aboriginal ownership and leadership, and the team is now made up of 70% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Magpie Goose continues as a social enterprise that provides economic opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people around Australia. We are committed to providing training and employment opportunities through Magpie Goose in the areas of textile and fashion design, clothing production, retail operations, ecommerce, digital marketing, content production, modelling, make-up artistry and styling, photography and more.

What is the difference between cultural appreciation/celebration and cultural appropriation?

Cultural appreciation/celebration refers to the respectful and positive recognition and acceptance of the beliefs, practices, customs, and values of a particular culture. It involves learning about and understanding different cultures in order to gain a deeper appreciation for them.

Cultural appreciation involves actively seeking out opportunities to learn about and engage with different cultures in a respectful and meaningful way.

Cultural appropriation involves taking aspects of a culture — intellectual property, artifacts, style, art form, etc without understanding or respecting their significance, often for personal gain or without permission. Cultural appropriation can be harmful and disrespectful to the cultures being appropriated from.

How do you involve the wider community in the release of the collection?

When we can, we return* to the community where the art was created and showcase the collection as part of a community ‘launch’ event.

We also aim to go back to Country where we photograph new collections from where the art is from, creating economic opportunities for the local community through photography, styling, make-up artistry, hospitality, event management, and so much more.

* Unfortunately Covid stymied our plans to travel to Ikuntji/Haasts Bluff community, and will restrict our ability to return to Kalumburu to showcase and shoot the collection, however we’re working on innovative ways to involve community members in this release, as well as connecting with a broader network of Aboriginal models and photographers.

How can we be confident your dealings with artists are ethical?

We are proud of our partnerships with artists, art centres and communities, and intend to maintain a high ethical standard from initial artist proposals right through to production, collection release, and the sale of all Magpie Goose garments.

For all artists partnerships/collaborations, we use a textile reproduction license agreement produced by Arts Law, endorsed by Copyright Agency.

To support artists through agreements and negotiations, we facilitate an introduction with the Copyright Agency to represent artists independently throughout these processes.

Magpie Goose is a proud member of the Indigenous Art Code, an entity that maintains the standards for ethical dealings between Dealers of Indigenous Art and Artists.

We are committed to being on-the-ground to develop relationships with our collaborating artists and art centres. The steps are very clear, we thoroughly explain the process to them and together we co-design the collaboration to ensure it meets the needs and aspirations of the artists and community.

When we return to the community with the designs it’s a real celebration of what we have achieved together.

What percentage of the sale price goes to artists?

For all artists partnerships/collaborations, we use a textile reproduction license agreement produced by Arts Law and endorsed by Copyright Agency.

For these agreements we do not not operate on a set ‘percentage of sale price per item’, rather, the artist is paid a fee for each metre of their design that is printed (as soon as it is printed onto the fabric).

The original royalty amount per metre is negotiated between Magpie Goose and the artist/art centre and each agreement is commercial in confidence.

We are proud of our partnerships with artists, art centres and communities and the agreements we negotiate are endorsed by Copyright Agency as fair and ethical.

Magpie Goose is a proud member of the Indigenous Art Code, an entity that maintains the standards for ethical dealings between Dealers of Indigenous Art and Artists.

There is currently no industry standard for licensing Aboriginal artwork to be printed on fabric / clothing.

Manufacturing

Can I stock Magpie Goose clothing in my shop?

As a social enterprise that designs, prints and creates collections in Australia, we cannot offer traditional wholesale discounts, but we do partner with like-minded Australian boutiques.

Get in touch if you'd like to discuss a partnership with us at hello@magpiegoose.com.

Can you make me a custom outfit?

Our manufacturers require specific, minimum order requirements to create our collections, but we can guarantee that each item is unique in its print (slightly different print placements), as we hand screen print each collection with care.

If you’re looking for something that’s 100% unique in its design, there are some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art centres that sell online.

Raw Cloth in Darwin creates beautiful one-off pieces, as does Albertini Couture.

What do you do with the offcuts? Can I have them for quilting?

To minimise our production waste and energy footprint, we repurpose all our larger fabric offcuts to make our baby rompers. For any smaller offcuts, they are sent to the wonderful women at Second Stitch, where they are patched together to create our baby bibs, scrunchies and smaller fabric items.

After we have repurposed these offcuts, we unfortunately have no leftovers to package up for quilting or other creative projects.

Who does the screenprinting?

For all licensed Magpie Goose artist collaborations, the designs are screen printed by Publisher Textiles in Sydney.

Why don’t people in remote communities make the clothes?

Some art centres and communities have the capacity to screen print onto fabric themselves, but most artists opt to use the more commercial option of printing with Publisher Textiles in Sydney as this gives the artists more options regarding colour and creativity.

As there is not a strong history of clothing production in remote communities (unlike painting and weaving practices), there isn’t much infrastructure to lean-on to produce items for commercial sale.

Some communities are engaged in sewing, but often this is for small items like bags and accessories.

As is our mission, we will always look for ways to include the community in as many aspects as possible in the creation of their artwork, but we unfortunately do not have capacity to set up sewing training and production centres with our current operational model.

For the record, if anyone were ever to show an interest in this as a set up, Magpie Goose would be very keen to become a customer!

Other

What is a social enterprise?

‘Social enterprises are businesses that trade to intentionally tackle social problems, improve communities, provide people access to employment and training, or help the environment.

Using the power of the marketplace to solve the most pressing societal problems, social enterprises are commercially viable businesses existing to benefit the public and the community, rather than shareholders and owners.’ (Social Traders)

Are you an Indigenous business?

Yes. In March 2021 the business transitioned to Aboriginal ownership and leadership. Read more about the team here.