In 2020, most brands were shutting shop, reshuffling and rethinking their next move. For Aboriginal-led social enterprise Clothing The Gaps, they only continued to thrive.

Why?

Because their brand is about more than just clothes.

Clothing the Gaps brand and marketing manager and Narungga woman Sianna Catullo said it wasn't a surprise people weren't buying clothes during COVID.

"Why are people buying clothes when they're stuck in their houses?" she said.

"We had a bigger purpose than just to look good, the profits are going towards doing the work."

Known for their statement t-shirts, the social enterprise and fashion brand has only grown bigger and more meaningful since then.

But before Clothing the Gaps was Clothing the Gaps, they were Spark Health a health promotion business which was selling merch on the side as an incentive.

From there the team saw the power of fashion and how designs could motivate people to have tough conversations and change their lifestyle.

With this in mind Catullo thought of HoMie, another streetwear brand also using fashion as a way to inspire social and cultural conversations and change.

"And we just hit them up one day and was like 'hey we'd love to chat, we know you've been doing this for a bit and we're really new to it," Catullo said.

"And they replied within minutes being like 'yeah we've heard of you, loving what you're doing, let's go for lunch' and they've just been so generous with their time from the very beginning.

"We've been working together internally for three years now."

After three years a collaboration - Together On Purpose - was born out of conversations about stock.

"We had so much excess stock and so did they," Catullo said.

"And so we thought what does it actually look like if we actually physically cut the pieces and bring them together and create a campaign and talk about together on purpose.

"This tells a bigger story of how brands can work together and support each other away from merch and beyond merch."

After this collaboration, Clothing the Gaps has shown no signs of slowing down.

Making their debut in the First Nations Fashion and Design runway during Afterpay Australian Fashion Week in 2022, Clothing the Gaps are now looking to how they can expand on their line.

"As well as ready to market clothes, we're also wanting to make some one off elevated pieces where people are able to loan and borrow and wear at their events," Catullo said.

"We want these conversations to continue and you put so much time and effort into a piece and we want to be able to celebrate it and worn by multiple people in multiple spaces."

The Clothing the Gaps x Homie Tee Party will take place on March 4 in Naarm as part of Melbourne Fashion Festival.