Bird lovers,

As a customer once said, the best of stories have unexpected endings. And so, as 10 days celebrating our 10 year anniversary come to a close, this seems a fitting moment to tell you that it is time to close the doors at Bird. 

I have been invited to work with the peak body for the arts and cultural sector, in my region. Flying the flag for the creative industries. Helping to make more brands, like Bird, more easily accessible to lovely customers like you. And so, with a happy sad heart, I have decided to spread my wings and fly.

It's been a massive 10 years, and I am very grateful for the many lessons learnt along the way. I'm also very grateful to all of you, who have so generously supported our work at Bird. Great things have happened since I took up the banner to promote sustainable design all those years ago, and I am tremendously proud of all we have achieved.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, this is our last daily $200 prize draw, but we will be having a huge giveaway tomorrow, Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues........and so with Bird’s newly built nest feathered, and the brand thriving, the time felt right to take a moment to focus on family. In October 2010 a very special little bird was born, under a starry sky, at Rachel’s home in Byron Bay. And life changed forever.

During late 2010, and early 2011, Rachel took some time out to spend with her baby daughter, Quincy. Inspired by her little girl, later that year she launched a sub-brand for kids called Little Bird, Little Bird featuring a boutique range of bespoke children’s organic wear.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird.

Email info@birdtextile.com  with the two fabric colours we make our Little Bird, Little Bird pinafores in to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 9 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there are daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues........ 2010 was a year of consolidation for the brand. A $50,000 grant from OzIndustry enabled a restructure, redesign, and new online wholesale and retail website, and  streamlined fashion, homewares, and gift ranges. The popular resurgence of indi-craft reinforced our decision to launch a new craft range.

An invite to show at London Fashion Weeks dedicated eco-fashion platform, Estethica, opened up new markets in Europe, and we had fun with our Spring Summer fashion range themed around Playful Perfection.

Fashion Group International awarded Bird as winner of the Sustainable Product category of the FGI Sydney Awards for Excellence, and somewhere in the middle of all this Rachel finished building her sustainable straw bale home!    

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird.

Email info@birdtextile.com  with the names of our three do it yourself craft kits to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 8 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there are daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues.......the theme of this 2009 fashion shoot was Reaching Nirvana, and in many ways this was the year that Bird reached its Nirvana. It was a year of reaffirmation and education.

Rachel was invited to be a panel member of ‘Eco Young Guns’ at Eat Green Design, Powerhouse Museum part of Sydney Design Festival, and chose to put time and energy into education and sustainable design, by guest speaking at the TCF Forum for Tafe NSW, a Fashioning Now Industry Symposium at UTS, Sydney, and encouraging school kids at a ‘Fashion Less Waste’ competition through the Australian Museum.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird.

Email info@birdtextile.com  with the answer to.....Which brand did we collaborate with to create the products featured in our shop window at Bird Textiles Emporium? (see images) ..... to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 7 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there are daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues.......2008 was a big year for the brand. With over 100 retailers and a global online retail store, we finally had the buying power to commission our own organic cotton base fabric to be woven in tens of thousands of metres from India, thereby making it financially viable to use organic base fabrics for our entire range. This meant we were able to offer the triple sustainability whammy of organic fair-trade fabric, 100% renewable energy in production and 100% climate neutral business practice.

That same year we opened our flagship store in the heart of Sydney’s design district, Surry Hills in one of Sydney’s oldest buildings. And launched our giftware range.

To top the year off, Bird was recognized as Fabric Designer of the Year by House and Garden Magazine.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird.

Email info@birdtextile.com with the answer to.....What type of shop had Bird Textiles Emporium been before we took it on?, ..... to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 6 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there will be daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues........ in 2007 Bird was selected by Austrade to represent Australia in New York at G’Day USA, and awarded a stand at the new ‘green’ section of Designers and Agents fashion tradefair in Los Angeles, so launched Bird in the U.S. It was also the year we launched the homewares range in Australia, exposing our brand to a whole new market.

In the same year Time Magazine featured Bird as one of three significant sustainable fashion brands in Australasia. The brand was featured in ‘Cool Hunting Green’ book, published internationally, and curators at the Powerhouse Museum nominated Rachel for a Powerhouse Wizard Award, recognizing emerging leaders in Australian innovation and achievement.

The year was all about new markets, travel and innovation, and the year’s winter fashion shoot reflected this, inspired by leaving on a jetplane on a ‘journey to the world of tomorrow’.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird. 

Email info@birdtextile.com with the name of one of the fabric prints featured in the 'Journey To the World of Tomorrow' photoshoot at Bird Textiles, to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 5 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there will be daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues.......

Bird showed the first fashion range using our own hand printed fabrics at a trade fair in Sydney and signed up 20 shops on the spot. It was time to start scaling up production. The Bird team grew over night and the new premises in Byron Bay was kitted out to manage demand for this new fashion range.

The brand was recognised as Australia’s FIRST climate neutral business by undertaking a life cycle analysis of the carbon costs for the entire business and purchasing renewable energy - in wind farms and UV solar plants.

And the Powerhouse Museum interviewed Rachel and initiated procurement of garments from both Slingfings and Bird Textiles for the permanent collections at the museum.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird. 

Email info@birdtextile.com with the name of the book which inspired this winter photo shoot at Bird Textiles, to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 4 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there will be daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues.......

The growth of Slingfings left Rachel with a new problem. How to find the quantities of vintage fabric required to continue to fulfil all the orders she was receiving. It occurred to her that the only way to really grow was to be able to access fabrics in larger quantities.

With vintage fabrics becoming more difficult to find, and the limitations of having to create all one off pieces, Rachel looked to her training and roots in textile design and decided her best approach would be to design her own range of fabrics. Using the hundreds of different vintage prints she had handled as inspiration, she designed her own range of fabrics, and launched the new brand ‘Bird Textiles’.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird. 

Email info@birdtextile.com with the name of one of the dress styles from the first fashion season at Bird Textiles, to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 3 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! We will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there will be daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September, so stay tuned!

The story continues.....

During the first couple of years Rachel travelled up and down the East Coast searching op shops for vintage fabrics, and selling the Slingfings bags at markets and festivals. Every Saturday, she would get up at 4am to drive to the Valley markets in Brisbane, and then drive home and get up at 6am the following day to do one of the Byron Bay or Bellingen markets. The rest of the week was all about cutting and sewing which was done from the spare room of her home.

It wasn’t long before Rachel started to get requests to expand the range, and so she employed her first solar sewer, and developed a small fashion range, using the recycled and reclaimed vintage fabrics. Enlisting the help of friends and family, Rachel pulled together her first photo shoots on the smell of an oily rag and started to build her brand.

Click on read more to see more images from 10 years at Bird.

Email info@birdtextile.com with the name of one of the dress styles from the Slingfings original fashion range, to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 2 Draw’ in the header of your email.

It’s official. This week we are celebrating 10 years at Bird! Over the next 10 days we will be looking back at highlights from the last 10 years at Bird, there will be daily $200 prize draws, and a huge giveaway on Wednesday 5th September so stay tuned!

The brand started in August 2002, as its first incarnation Slingfings. It was Rachel’s first year living in Australia, on a remote intentional community near Bellingen on the East Coast of Australia. She lived in a simple shack made from canvas, doors and windows, learnt about living sustainably,  off the grid, on a stunning 800 acre property, made up of pristine beach and literal rainforest, where 200 people had chosen to live lightly on the planet. She grew her own food, studied permaculture, and had a dream to start a small business using the principles she was living by, and her passion for textiles.

Slingfings first collection were bag designs made from recycled and reclaimed vintage fabrics. The bags were sewn at Rachel’s little shack, using solar power, and sold at the local markets.

Click on read more to see more images from the early years.

Email info@birdtextile.com with the name of one of the bag styles from the Slingfings original bag range, to go in today’s draw to win $200 of Bird product. Write ‘Day 1 Draw’ in the header of your email.