Four Adelaide women have come together to create employment for newly arrived asylum seekers and help recycle waste from the fashion industry.
From Found takes its name from where it will source the fabrics for its clothing range.
The organisation recovers, reclaims or finds leftover runs of materials from other fabric industries.
Providing opportunities for newly arrived residents
Beyond reducing waste, From Found has another aim: to help employ skilled people from non-English-speaking backgrounds.
Managing director and co-founder Lauren Bonnet was a community development worker when she saw the need to help skilled workers with limited English skills get into the workforce.
"The job market for refugees is really difficult to enter," Ms Bonnet said.
That was something Mardiya Jawad found after arriving in Australia from Iraq in 2000 with her son, on a sponsored refugee visa from her husband.
Since arriving, Ms Jawad's family has grown to five children.
She has also studied pharmaceutical sciences and completed a full-time degree in social work and counselling.
"The university told me it would be very hard and I wouldn't be able to do it, but I said 'I will try; we will see'."
Helping new arrivals enter the workforce
Ms Jawad said she had been able to find short-term work helping migrant women and as an interpreter, but struggled to find full-time employment.
She was driven to become involved in From Found as it empowers women to enter the workforce, and provides career pathways, not just financial support.
Ms Jawad is the vice-chairperson for the organisation, sitting on its board alongside Hannah and Annie Materne.
"It will become much easier for them to find different jobs or even start their first business," Ms Jawad said.
From Found will begin with three part-time positions, operating for three days a week to help young mothers enter the workforce.
The group crowdfunded its start-up costs and received donations of fabrics and machinery.
"There are unutilised skills going to waste in homes around Australia because we have not provided enough opportunities," Ms Bonnet said.
"We're hoping our workers will stay for as long as they need to build up their English skills, confidence and exposure to the workforce, and then we'll support them to transition into the workforce."
The organisation hopes to launch its clothing range at the Bowerbird Design Market at the Adelaide Showground in November.
"I'd love to see us be able to employ more and more women and see more and more women transition from From Found to all kinds of industries," Ms Bonnet said.
