Australian fashion labels have graced the catwalks all around the world. Australian homegrown fashion talent has cemented amazing success in business both domestically and globally and Matea Designs is so incredibly proud to be able to say we are an Australian Fashion Brand offering unique women’s garments to the domestic market as well as the global market.
Established in 2014, by Matea Saule, Australian fashion label Matea Designs is best known for it’s ready-to-wear collections of petite dresses, midi dresses, party dresses, cocktail dresses, classic cut shirts, high waist shorts, strappy crop tops, mini skirts, maxi skirts, maxi dresses, bodysuits and more. If you are looking for unique designer pieces that you won’t find replicated anywhere else Matea Designs is your go to. With an eye for detail and feminine styles and cuts that flatter the woman's body, you can be assured that you will feel beautiful in our pieces. Not only will you feel beautiful in our garments, Matea Saule’s intention is to create a brand that would encapsulate the beauty of a woman’s body & empower women to feel confident in themselves from the outside in.
Matea’s background in fashion and commerce created the perfect blend of knowledge to launch and sustain the fashion brand. Drawing on inspiration from her European dressmaking heritage from her grandmother, Matea completed studies in fashion at Melbourne Fashion Institute then later in Commerce at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
Matea is also very passionate about philanthropic work particularly around Women’s empowerment which is something that is heavily woven into the Matea Designs brand. As a brand, we are on a mission to empower Women both in Australia and globally. We do this by offering unique quality affordable designer garments which Women feel confident in. As well as partnering with a number of different Women focused charities and powerful projects to help make a positive and powerful impact in Women's lives around the globe.
We mainly focus on three projects which are dedicated to protect women, end violence against women and keep girls in schools. Protect a women project is dedicated to providing women and children with a safe place to stay. In this current COVID-19 crisis, Women's Community Shelters are experiencing a 25% increase in inquiries for safe accommodation for women and children who are homeless or escaping domestic violence. Existing services are already at full capacity, with more than 50% of women seeking shelter turned away due to a lack of beds. End violence against women project aims to support local services in Papua New Guinea to meet womens needs and to train community leaders to understand violence against women is a crime. And lastly the Keeping girls in school project aims to provide girls with education on menstrual hygiene to stay in school which increases their chances of not only staying in school but also decreases their likelihood of early pregnancy and child marriage.
$1 from each one of our sales made online through our online store is sent directly to our charity partner i=Change who distributes our donations directly to the charity groups. “It is an incredibly powerful and rewarding ability and a real honour to be able to use your business to do good in the world. It truly gives me so much energy and purpose knowing that the garments I design are not only enabling Women to feel beautiful but also contributing to helping Women live more empowered lives. Like so many women living in the West I feel incredibly fortunate in many ways in terms of having access to education and independence to build whatever kind of life I want for myself. I wish this for all women around the world” - Matea.
Read more about our charity partner projects here: https://www.iequalchange.com/brand/matea-designs/
A little on the process behind the senses…
Despite it all looking very seamlessly effortless, there is a lot of hard work and dedication that goes on behind the scenes to bring a product to life from conception to bringing the product to market. So we thought we would share a little bit about the process and how we go about bringing our products to you.
The design processes of brining Matea Designs garments to life:
All of our garments are made in small quantities avoiding any form of mass production.
The design process begins with gathering of ideas, colours, concepts, inspirations from art and different prints, photographs current and historical and putting these ideas together as a inspirational mood board. The mood board is usually a physical board or sketch book where we cut out and stick in these ideas as well as do some drawing. Maybe even words or quotes would go into these initial ideas.
From there design ideas start to form from the mood board drawing on past design models, other runway models, current trends and of course keeping the element of timelessness in mind. Initial sketches are then drawn out and a collection of new models starts to form.
In conjunction with the initial design sketches fabric are chosen from our fabric catalogue to complement the designs. Sometimes a design is created and we need our supplies to source specific fabric for us that will complement that specific design. All our fabrics are carefully selected.
Once we have finalised our designs for the new collection which may incorporate women’s jackets, midi dresses, bodycon dresses, cocktail dresses and more we send off all our collection details, sketches and specifications to our suppliers and manufacturers.
The process of sampling now begins. Our suppliers source all fabrics and start the pattern making process of bringing our designs to life. Once the patterns are completed the samples are sown together and shipped to us for review and initial approval. We will assess all samples, fit, quality, fabric etc. Sometimes we need certain samples re-made.
While we have the samples ready with us we usually shoot the new collection here in Australia in a studio or on location. This is one of THE MOST fun parts in the process. Shoot day especially with an awesome team can be so much fun! It’s often an early start to the day and the shoot often goes for the whole day. We shoot images for our new campaigns but also images that are just of the product which we use on our online store. Images that you browse when buying our products.
On shoot day the model arrives at the location and the hair and make-up artist will begin prepping the face and hair based on the brief that we provide. We usually gather inspiration images of hair and make-up prior to shoot day and brief the hair and make-up artist prior where they may also make suggestions on what has worked previously, especially if they have worked with the model we have chosen before and are familiar with their skin type, hair texture etc. Whilst the hair and make-up is being prepped, the photographer will scope out and test the lighting, angels, shades etc of how and where to get the best shots. Once the model is ready we start taking the photos and for efficiency and so that we know we’re capturing the photos well, Matea will look at the screen connected to the camera as the photographer is shooting and give direction to both the photographer and the model whether the shot needs to be taken again or if a particular pose worked really well and for the model to repeat that type of movement.
We usually receive the raw shots from the photographer a few weeks after the shoot from where we sort through the images and make our final selections.
The next step in the process is to send our approved samples back to our manufacturer and place an order for production of our new collection. Our supplier then purchases the fabric we need and get started with the fabric cutting and production process. Any accessories or buttons are purchased along with the fabric.
Our manufacturer is based in China, a small boutique factory where we make very limited pieces in each of our styles. Our styles are never mass produced keeping the Matea Designs brand exclusive. You can be sure that you will be receiving a product made with care and love. As well as a product that not many people will have due to the nature of how we choose to manufacture our pieces.
After our unique Australian Designed garments have been produced and finished they are shipped to us here in Australia where we package them with love and care for you all to enjoy.
We hope you can appreciate the effort and care that goes into designing and manufacturing our garments. We take pride in the fact our garments are not mass produced and designed with the female form in mind from a physical and emotional standpoint.
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