Rubber hits the road for fashion in need

THE Cafs’ Thread Together initiative is going mobile this year with a wardrobe van on loan from the program’s Sydney branch.

Normally based at their Grenville Street hub, the foundation will fill the vehicle with about 28 tubs of clothing and footwear.

Program and volunteer lead Nicole Roberts said the new wheels will expand Thread Together’s mission of providing clothing for those in need.

“With past popups, I was doing it myself in the Cafs maintenance van, and heading out on the road,” she said.

“I saw how it was received and obviously Thread Together Sydney saw and said ‘yes, there’s a need, let’s get a van out to them’.

“This enables us to go out on the road and service areas for communities and people in need that can’t get to us or our clothing hub.

“It’s set up beautifully, it has shelving, storage, and a really clever changeroom to allow people the option to try the clothing on.”

“Our two key words are dignity and choice, so we want to give people the best possible experience we can.”

The van is on loan for about six months and will allow volunteers to service Ballarat suburbs as well as trips planned for Bacchus Marsh, Ararat, and Daylesford on a rotating basis.

Two part-time volunteers are running the van with additional staff, and Ms Roberts said they’re looking to expand their on-road team.

She also said the aim is to secure their own Thread Together van.

“The need is out there,” she said. “We’ll be able to use this one to get it up and going and to show everybody there’s a great demand for this service, for clothing to reach people in regional areas.

“Thread Together in New South Wales have expanded with mobile hubs and wardrobes all over Australia. We were the first clothing hub in Victoria to partner with Thread Together.

“We’ve already got a greater demand than we can service so we need to keep expanding.”