When young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds arrive in Australia, they face barriers that can seem insurmountable: unemployment, isolation and difficulties accessing education and training. But what if they could design their own future?

In this episode of The Quick Unpick Podcast, I chat to Aleksandra Nedeljkovic and Luka Rey from Ethical Clothing Australia-accredited social enterprise The Social Studio.

The Social Studio empowers young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds by providing fashion and industry-based solutions to the main obstacles they face upon arriving in our community. They do this by creating jobs, providing education opportunities, encouraging community engagement and fostering social inclusion.

Their unique model is made up of three fashion-based not-for-profit social enterprises: an RMIT-accredited school, an ethical production studio, and retail store. The common thread? Every one of these different initiatives exists to empower Australia’s migrant and refugee youth through education and employment.

Each part of their ecosystem either provides these practical opportunities or funds them. So when you shop or produce locally with The Social Studio, you help build futures in more ways than one.

Listen in to find out how the organisation came about, the incredible threads they make under their roof in Melbourne and how they’re using fashion for good to empower and connect migrants and refugees who are new to this country.