Jume acknowledges the Arakwal people as the rightful custodians of the land, waterways and living ecosystems of the Bundjalung nation where she works and lives. We pay our respects and endless gratitude to elders past, present and future.
Hello everyone! Jume here to say hello for the first time in over 4 years.
I would also like to introduce to you my new website and a new monthly journal of photos, playlists, recipes, interviews and other little things that are bringing me joy. If you would like to receive these in your inbox please sign up on the website, if not you will be able to browse through them all on the website! But for this one, I just wanted to write you a letter.
It has been a big year for me with new study, building and growing my new shop Toko Toko, general covid difficulties, family illness and the trauma and grief of my home getting so badly damaged in the NSW floods, along with a whole lot of intense personal issues too.
The picture below was my deck and the creek a month before it was decimated by a giant landslide and a 70 meter wide raging river that ran straight through our home taking with it much that I treasured along with all the greenery and trees that you see here.
I'm slowly healing and finding my feet again and really assessing what I value and what I want to direct my energy into and have found my way back to this label. I realised that what I have created was too special to me to walk away from, but a big refresh was in order to keep me excited and passionate about it.
I would also like to introduce to you my new website and a new monthly journal of photos, playlists, recipes, interviews and other little things that are bringing me joy. If you would like to receive these in your inbox please sign up on the website, if not you will be able to browse through them all on the website! But for this one, I just wanted to write you a letter.
It has been a big year for me with new study, building and growing my new shop Toko Toko, general covid difficulties, family illness and the trauma and grief of my home getting so badly damaged in the NSW floods, along with a whole lot of intense personal issues too.
The picture below was my deck and the creek a month before it was decimated by a giant landslide and a 70 meter wide raging river that ran straight through our home taking with it much that I treasured along with all the greenery and trees that you see here.
I'm slowly healing and finding my feet again and really assessing what I value and what I want to direct my energy into and have found my way back to this label. I realised that what I have created was too special to me to walk away from, but a big refresh was in order to keep me excited and passionate about it.
Aside from simplifying my range and making enormous changes to my production and sustainability goals, it's also a bit different in aesthetic to what my oldest customers are familiar with. To those who don't gel with it and part ways, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your love and support, it’s been such a great pleasure to have made you garments that you love.
Please know that despite my fear of judgment and failure that is arising upon leaving my safe and familiar realm, I am trying to be brave and move towards a more authentic representation of my taste and style so that I can rekindle my creative flame and expand my creative possibilities, even if its a bit more niche :)
Please know that despite my fear of judgment and failure that is arising upon leaving my safe and familiar realm, I am trying to be brave and move towards a more authentic representation of my taste and style so that I can rekindle my creative flame and expand my creative possibilities, even if its a bit more niche :)
That being said, the Jume essence of salty, summery, oceanic joy will live on, as will my commitment to making garments that are ethical, flattering and comfortable to wear every day.
Another exciting change is that I have a new website and branding! Until now, everything was designed and built by myself and my ex-girlfriend Marian. As proud as I was to be able to get this far with no external assistance, it was so exciting to expand my possibilities with actual professionals.
I worked with some really talented friends of mine to make a new logo, packaging, website, stickers and swing tags that I really love. Huge thank you to Rohan Newman for branding, graphic design and website design, Peter Cole and Gian Manik for illustrations andMatt Crowley for the website development. I have also begun collaborating with some friends to make some printed tees and garments which I'm really excited about!
The other special project in my life that i want to share with you is Toko toko, the store in Byron Bay that i run with my dear friend Melati Malay. Toko Toko is a home for Shop Jume and all the things and labels we love, as well as an incredible collection of books from Good Publishings and records by Earth Editions - who I will introduce in upcoming journals. You can click on the logo below to see the store.
Another part of all this is that I have been feeling the full weight of our planet's environmental crisis and climate change and have been deeply reassessing if any kind of production can really be ethical even with sustainable choices.
When I started this label 5 years ago, there were only three labels in Australia that I could think of that were consciously trying to make sustainable choices and none were really things I would wear. There was a real need for more ethical options and so for that reason I decided to start my own label.
Now, I am happy to say there are countless great labels with this approach and established labels are shifting towards sustainability too. With that in mind, I wondered if there was even the need for my label anymore and decided to change careers. I went back to uni to continue my studies of sociology and counselling and yet i found myself still wanting to make things, still loving textiles, still wearing and buying clothes and still noticing that so many labels i love the look of still do not even use organic fabrics despite ethical fabrics being more accessible than ever.
Now, I am happy to say there are countless great labels with this approach and established labels are shifting towards sustainability too. With that in mind, I wondered if there was even the need for my label anymore and decided to change careers. I went back to uni to continue my studies of sociology and counselling and yet i found myself still wanting to make things, still loving textiles, still wearing and buying clothes and still noticing that so many labels i love the look of still do not even use organic fabrics despite ethical fabrics being more accessible than ever.
The conclusion I came to with all of this was that I would continue, but I would radically reassess just how sustainable this label can possibly be. If I can't achieve this to a level I am morally comfortable with then I will just stop making things altogether, but I'm going to give it a go!
It will be costly to set up and will take time, but I am hoping to soon be working with the latest waste-free Japanese knit technology. I am trying to wrangle smaller runs of recycled fabrics and innovative new eco-textiles which has been a challenge.
Carbon footprint is also an issue since it's so hard to find any fabric that is produced in Australia where I am based. I'm also trying source yarns and fabrics that track their supply chain which will allow me move towards my goal of total supply chain transparency.
In all honesty it's overwhelming to be starting from scratch, but I will start slowly, piece by piece, and see where I end up. I am well aware that I am not perfect and I'm sure I will stumble along the way but I will try to work with integrity so that my creativity and livelihood doesn't cost other beings theirs.
This is also a call out to anyone passionate about revolutionising fashion who would like to share tips, leads or even your skills and resume!
I feel really connected to so many of you from sweet emails and chats over the years so I thought I would share with you a bit about where I'm at and let you in on the process. I'm excited to share my weird world with you!
Love and kisses to you all x
To celebrate the new website and journal i am offering a storewide sale of 25% off for the mailing list members from Tuesday 26th September until Saturday the 1st October.
Use the code jumejournal at checkout.
This first playlist was compiled by me featuring a lot of music i like to listen to at the shop from Earth Editions. Music for driving around the countryside, strolling through the forest and swimming in the sea.
