Life is a wild adventure full of twists and turns. From growing up in a small town in NSW, travelling the world on a shoestring budget to recently starting my own small, slow fashion business. I have been relishing in all that the world has to offer for the lucky majority of us, always eager to see what lies just around the corner.
I moved to London when I was 18, hoping to explore my creative interests in fashion as well as explore all the hot spots of Europe that I had heard so much about. I was in awe of the diversity of languages, people, history and architecture. And of course the fashion! This world was completely different to the one I grew up in and I couldn’t wait to take it all in. Before I knew it, I was a better version of myself, more daring, adventurous and most importantly I had a better understanding of the diversity of the human population.
After two years in London and Europe, I was off to Toronto, a city that offered yet another perspective of the world that was unfamiliar to me. Here I continued to grow and learn, absorbing as much as I could, all the wonders the world had to offer but also its downfalls.
By the time I was 21 I had travelled to 5 continents & 40 countries. I continued on this path for the next 18 months, returning to Australia briefly to utilise the economy to further fuel my hunger for adventure.
2019 had me setting off on my biggest and best trip yet! From Sydney to Eastern Europe, the trans-Siberian across Russia, hidden gems like Uzbekistan & Kyrgyzstan followed by America, Canada and Africa. To say I was excited was an understatement.
Seven months into this 18 month long partially planned adventure (let’s be honest, spontaneity is one of the best feats in life), I ended up in Cape Town, reconnecting with an old flame (who I met a year earlier while living in Thailand...) we travelled along the south and west coast of South Africa and into Namibia to explore the desert and old German settlements. Around came March 2020 and I couldn’t wait to continue up the east coast of Africa exploring places like Mozambique and Tanzania, but instead, I had no choice but to say goodbye to someone very special to me and hop on a plane back to Australia with no idea when I’d be back...
So after almost 5 years on the road and 50 countries explored, I found myself back in Australia with no real idea what I should be doing. Life had become one big unknown with no answers in sight.
Fast forward 18 months and one small business later I’m actually incredibly grateful for this time in Australia. I’ve always had a passion for designing clothes and I love being creative. So I used this time in Sydney to dive into my creative side and @George_Swang was born. A crochet-based slow fashion business that embraces sustainable means of creation. After all of my adventures, it was important for me to create something meaningful and with purpose. After seeing countless communities overseas struggle with waste management, including burning plastics, metals and fabrics; to seeing discarded items polluting waterways, I knew that I wanted to do things differently.
I wanted to create pieces that would eventually never exist, not be something that was fashionable one minute and then forgotten about the next. I use natural fibres, sustainable and compostable packaging and all the pieces are created by myself.
I have an amazing community that supports my creation’s which fuels me to deliver and create more! My creativity is constantly evolving but this has only been made possible with the return to a more permanent cruisey lifestyle here in Australia. The beauty of having the time to sit and take everything in and really focus on what I have a passion for, fashion-made guilt-free.
From my adventures overseas to my adventures in the fashion world I’m always looking for something new & exciting to take on, something challenging yet inspiring. I can’t wait to see where I end up next and what I end up doing.
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