THE WARDROBES WHERE EVERYONE IS WELCOME

From living on the street to doing it tough in the outback, everyone looks their best thanks to these charities

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REMOTE STYLING

For First Nations families in the most remote parts of Australia, buying clothes for weddings, school formals or NAIDOC Week celebrations can be costly.

The Remote OpShop Project helps families dress for special occasions, daily life or school by distributing around 100kg of donated clothes each week to community-run op shops.

"In some communities, people wear the same clothes for three months at a time, or mums don’t have clothes for their babies.

Some children don’t go to school because they don’t have shoes," explains the charity’s CEO, Tanya Egerton.

And going clothes shopping often means negotiating a 500km drive on bumpy dirt roads to reach the nearest town. The charity relies on donations which can be sent to them in 5kg Australia Post bags. They are currently receiving donations for their Christmas appeal.

"Women in communities put up a post saying they need baby clothes, bridesmaid dresses or formal dresses and then women across the country post them," says Tanya.

RM Williams and the Sussan Group are corporate clothing donors. The clothing is collected and then flown to communities in weekly mail drops. There are also touring mobile op shops.