How Clothing The Gap is working to close the gap and free the flag

As part of our Reconciliation Action Plan, we see it as fundamental to form relationships with the First Nations communities and to champion Indigenous businesses in our network and client base. We spoke with Laura Thompson and Sarah Sheridan from Clothing The Gap and Spark Health Australia about the work they are doing to free the Aboriginal flag from copyright restrictions so it can be ‘flown, worn and used as a symbol of pride, unity and a collective identity’.

Q1. Tell us about Clothing The Gap.

Clothing The Gap is a Victorian Aboriginal-owned and led social enterprise. We are a fresh and dynamic fashion label managed by health professionals that celebrates Aboriginal people and culture.

We unite Aboriginal and non-Indigenous people through fashion and cause by producing merch with a meaning and encourage people to wear their values on their tee.

Clothing The Gap is a play on the words ‘Closing the Gap’, which is an Australian Government health initiative to help close the life expectancy gap between Aboriginal people and non-Indigenous Australians. Co-Founded by Gunditjmara woman, Laura Thompson, and non-Indigenous health advocate, Sarah Sheridan, Clothing The Gap believes fashion can drive real change in this country while funding and supporting meaningful impact.

A little-known fact is that Clothing The Gap is actually really new, only becoming its own social enterprise in March 2020. Previously, the label was operating under Spark Health, the co-founders Health Promotion brand, and held the name ‘Spark Merch’. Spark Merch produced training singlets and jumpers as participation incentives for the Aboriginal Community health and wellbeing programs.

The dream was to ‘one day’ be able to sell enough merchandise to self-fund the impact work in the Aboriginal Community. We are so excited that this has become a reality thanks to our incredible community of supporters!

Q2. What are some of your signature programs at the Clothing The Gap Foundation? What do these hope to achieve?

As a social-enterprise, Clothing The Gap proudly re-invests in creating social change that promotes equity so that Aboriginal people feel seen and heard. As health professionals, we understand the importance and impact of holistic health and wellbeing, that being seen, heard and valued in the world plays a role in an individual’s and communities physical health and wellness.

We are currently delivering this impact work through our virtual run/walk event series in enabling pricing equity at registration and donating 100% of profits from the events to the Clothing The Gap Foundation.

By building in registration pricing equity we have been able to increase Aboriginal participation with over 25% of total event registrations coming from the Aboriginal Community.

With over 11,000 people registering for RunRona and the NAIDOC Virtual March, we’re stoked that thousands of Aboriginal people have stayed active and connected with others during the COVID lockdowns through the Clothing The Gap virtual events.

The Clothing The Gap Foundation facilitates a program called ‘Mob Run This’ to support staff and Community leaders from Aboriginal Community Organisations or Groups to run their own local event alongside the national virtual run/walk event.

‘Mob Run This’ is an online toolkit of customisable resources including social media collateral, flyers, registration support, social media and event tip sheets. The aim is for our team of experienced health promotion and Aboriginal Community engagement specialists to do all of the heavy lifting so that legends on the ground doesn’t have to spend their time recreating marketing material and can get on with doing what they do best – engaging and motivating their own Aboriginal Community to be active together.

Q3. Clothing The Gap have founded the ‘Free the Flag’ movement. Who ‘owns’ the Aboriginal flag and who has the right to reproduce it?

The Aboriginal Flag was designed by Harold Thomas, a Luritja man, in 1972. The flag was proclaimed as an official flag of Australia in 1995 and Harold was awarded copyright in 1997 by the Federal Court after Harold’s authorship was challenged.

Today, there are three licensee holders to the Aboriginal Flag: Gifts Mate, WAM Clothing and Flagworld. These are three non-Indigenous businesses who each hold world-wide exclusive agreements to reproduce the Aboriginal Flag in their respective fields, profiting off Aboriginal peoples’ identity and love for their flag.

WAM Clothing holds the worldwide exclusive licensing agreement on clothing, physical, digital and print media. This means that every single time a school, health service, business, organisation or sports team would like to proudly wear the Aboriginal Flag on their uniform, they must ask permission from WAM Clothing, and most likely pay an extra 20% of their merchandise cost to be able to do so.