From mining to meaning: Kirrikin’s founder weaves indigenous identity into global fashion

When Amanda Healy, an engineer-turned-fashion entrepreneur from Australia, decided to swap the world of mining for scarves and silk, it wasn’t a whim, it was a calling. The founder of Kirrikin, a social enterprise that blends Aboriginal art with sustainable fashion, was in New Delhi this week for her debut fashion show in India.

“I still have an engineering business,” she laughs, “but fashion gave me a way to promote our community in a positive way.”

For her, the shift from industry to art was deeply personal. “There was a huge gap in the market. Fashion inspired by Indigenous culture was there but it wasn’t made with Indigenous people or by them,” she says. “Many so-called Aboriginal designs were being mass-produced overseas, often without any connection to our artists. I wanted to change that.”

Launched in 2014, Kirrikin began as an accessories brand, involving scarves and ties crafted from silk and cashmere, before evolving into a full-fledged fashion label rooted in cultural storytelling and social purpose.

Today, the brand works with 12 Aboriginal women artists, all single mothers, who receive 20 per cent of every sale.

“It’s about building personal wealth and confidence for women who’ve traditionally struggled for economic stability, not just in Australia, but everywhere,” she explains. “It’s time to change that.”

The name Kirrikin itself carries layers of meaning. Drawn from her native language in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, it originally meant ‘possum cloak’, a ceremonial garment. “But during colonisation, when it became illegal for us to speak our language, our women cleverly changed the meanings of words to keep them alive,” she says.

“Kirrikin was adapted to mean ‘your Sunday best clothes’. To me, it perfectly represents what I wanted, which is clothing with cultural depth and pride.”

Though designed in Australia, every Kirrikin piece is meticulously crafted in Noida, India, a partnership that began when the brand was founded. “We searched globally from Italy, Turkiye, China to even South America, but India gave us the best balance of quality, cost and craftsmanship,” she says. “I still haven’t seen cashmere like the one we get from here. Indian textiles have a vibrancy and tactile beauty that’s unmatched.”

That collaboration, however, took over a decade to culminate in a fashion show on Indian soil. “We were planning something here in 2020, but then Covid happened. It’s lovely to finally be back,” she says, crediting the Australian High Commission, Fashion Design Council of India and the Centre for Australia-India Relations for facilitating the showcase.

For Healy, Kirrikin is more than fashion, it’s resistance to fast fashion and disposability.