Home is Where the Social Movement is
These local fashion heroes are using their clothing label to fight for the underdogs
For those of you who don’t know about Marcus Crook, you really should. Crook and his mate Nick Pearce founded HoMie, a streetwear label that donates 100% of its proceeds to youth homelessness. And if that isn’t impressive enough, the Melbourne locals have started a social movement by providing disadvantaged youth with employment and turning their cheeks to the fast fashion industry.
“…we were seeing misrepresentations of homeless people being violent and aggressive on drugs in the media. It’s an unjustified portrayal because, in reality, our most vulnerable citizens are being kicked down.”
Crook looks like your average bloke. Through my computer screen, he is wearing his hair short, and his beard long, while dressing in a faded beige t-shirt that looks as though it’s lived many lives. Behind him, his room is cream-coloured, lined with racks of clothing, empty of anything else. For someone as busy as him, he exudes a down-to-earth bravado while he tells me how this all began.
“We became really passionate about HoMie because we were seeing misrepresentations of homeless people being violent and aggressive on drugs in the media”, he tells me. “It’s an unjustified portrayal because, in reality, our most vulnerable citizens are being kicked down.”
Crook and Pearce met at a charity bike ride from Vietnam to Cambodia to raise funds and awareness for Child Wise, an anti-child trafficking charity based in Australia and Cambodia. The legends rode 1000 km in seven days to raise money for a local school in Cambodia, which would help keep the students engaged in education and teach them about sexual violence.
“We just became mates and had this idea to go out and raise awareness for homelessness”, says Crook. “I’ve volunteered for a number of charities, taking photos and doing documentary work in Rio and that trip in Vietnam, but nothing to do with business—literally, we have been winging it the whole time.” This is surprising, considering how quickly the HoMie brand and ethos have evolved since its inception in 2015.
Gaining widespread media attention with their Homeless In Melbourne facebook page, the duo went on to create a pop-up store that focused on helping their community. Crook smiles as he thinks back to this moment in time. They had no clothing racks and no clothes but somehow managed to pull together their networks and make a shop.
“…literally, we have been winging it the whole time.”
“It’s pretty outrageous looking back on it”, he says while laughing. “We were like, ‘Shit, there is a real need for this. How can we make it permanent?’” But the guys pulled it off and built the HoMie flagship store on Brunswick Street, where they sell the brand’s clothes made from ethically sustainable fabrics grown in a cotton farm in NSW.
The HoMie store has since created noticeable change within the community through its multiple programs like the VIP days, where homeless people pick out free clothing, and the Homie Pathway Alliance, which gives disadvantaged young people a pathway towards paid work in retail. It is the first of its kind in Australia.
“Last year we had kids placed at stores such as Champion, Bonds, Factorie, and this year we’ve got Toms and Nike. It's important to have those big retailers on board because it gives us credibility. This is where we can really make a difference to the youth homelessness issue.”
By providing homeless youth with part-time jobs, housing, and certificates in retail, Crook and Pearce can create positive change for individuals facing stigma and judgment.
In March 2020, HoMie launched Reborn, which started as a collection for the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival (VAMFF) and has ignited an important and long-overdue conversation about the irreparable damage of fast fashion.
Reborn re-produces one-off, upcycled garments made from secondhand clothing. The pieces are sourced from vintage stores, op shops, and factory floors, and are then hand-cut, sewn, and altered in Melbourne, giving the clothing a second life. The collection includes mismatched fabrics, oversized suit jackets, and bold prints. And I’ll be damned, it’s fucking good. Even though, in its early stages, Crook admits that he was sewing the pieces together himself.
“I took a couple of day-long crash courses from my Mum, but then I realised that it needed to be done properly.”
Reborn items are sewn by Chloe Turner, in collaboration with Crook, and the creative team has found a way to change the perception of upcycled clothing by creating unique limited edition shirts, trousers, and hoodies that stand out from anything I’ve seen before. Within a few hours, the first collection was completely sold out.
The fast fashion industry has come under scrutiny since the worldwide Pandemic, as consumers learn more about the poor working conditions and wages, and the enormous amounts of waste that the industry produces.
Up to 85% of fabrics and textiles go into landfills each year, with 6000 kg every ten minutes to be precise. That doesn’t even take into account the unsold garments from this year’s Pandemic, which has inconceivable consequences. I express my outrage at these statistics to Crook as he nods his head in agreement.
Last year, Crook and Pearce received the GQ Social Force Award that further solidifies and honours their contribution to local businesses and communities, as well as serving as a driving force for social movements.
“We do everything with care, transparency, and diligence. The big focus for us is to have a lasting impact.”
“GQ is super supportive of us and that gives us good credibility and exposure to a whole new audience. The only way we can have an impact and create purpose is by having profit. Without that, we can’t run our programs. I can’t thank those guys enough”, Crook says humbly. At a time where the whole world seems to have slowed down, Crook hasn’t.
With the little time I have left in the Zoom call, I ask Crook about the future of HoMie. True to form, he brings it all back to the kids. “The future for us is to expand our retail network opportunities to young people, so more can go through the program and get positions. We do everything with care, transparency, and diligence. The big focus for us is to have a lasting impact.”
[Edited by Jasmine Alavuk]
