How a fashion label founded by a Holocaust survivor came to help Australian health workers

While many Melbourne businesses are struggling under the coronavirus restrictions, staff at Fella Hamilton are busier than ever after the label began making masks and gowns for healthcare workers.

Fella Hamilton was born in Poland and later settled in Australia where she began her fashion label. Source: Supplied

Sharon and David Hamilton do more than run a clothing business together – they are helping to save lives on the healthcare frontline. 

The move has also saved the couple's business. 

“During Stage Four restrictions we would have [been forced] to stand down out staff,” said Sharon at their factory in Moorabbin, southeast of Melbourne.

"As a result of making personal protective equipment (PPE), we've been able to keep them all working and not only are they working, they're working very, very hard. We've probably never worked harder.”

Fella Hamilton's son David and his wife Sharon now run the family business. Source: Scott Cardwell

The Melbourne-based fashion label was founded 51 years ago by David’s mother, its namesake, Fella Hamilton. 

Fella, now aged 94, is a Holocaust survivor who fled Poland weeks before war broke out, in 1939.

“She started by selling terry-towelling turbans, back in the ’60s,” said David.

“Who would have thought it would grow to 35 stores around Australia half a century later?”

Fella Hamilton was born in Poland. Source: Supplied

Named Marjem Fulie when she was born in Poland in 1925, she grew up near the Romanian border in the town of Sniatyn and was always known as ‘Fella’, a common nickname of the time.

During the war, nearly all of Sniatyn’s Jewish population died. They were either shot and buried in the local forest or perished from disease and starvation in the ghetto. Around 1,500 Jews were sent to the Belzec concentration camp.

“I was one of the lucky last people to escape as I left in August 1939 on the last kindertransport [an organised children’s transport rescue] allowed to leave for England,” Fella said. 

“It was lovely to be going on the trip with other children. It felt like an adventure, as we were all too young to realise the enormity of what was happening.” 

World War II would start the following month.

Fella Hamilton lived in the UK until she migrated to Australia. Source: Supplied

Fella was just 13 when she arrived in the UK. She was among 10,000 predominantly Jewish children sent there from Germany and elsewhere in Europe. 

“She was very fortunate to get out," David said.

She married Heinz, also a kindertransport survivor, in 1945, and the couple later migrated to Australia.

Fella Hamilton’s start in the fashion industry was unplanned, but she quickly developed a passion for it, designing colourful new styles for women in the rebellious '60s and '70s.

Fella Hamilton with daughter-in-law Sharon and son David. Source: Supplied

“I was always having to make changes as fashion doesn’t stand still, it suited my character,” she said. 

“I loved clothes and I loved every minute of what I did. Although I fell into it by accident, it couldn’t have been a happier accident, because it fitted me like a glove.”

'Helping on the frontline'

The Fella Hamilton label is now supplying health workers with reusable clothing. More than 100,000 facemasks and tens of thousands of gowns have been supplied for government and private healthcare.

“In April, during the first lockdown, we suffered a 70 per cent loss to the business and with the constant discussion about low levels of PPE here in Australia we thought ‘why not rev up our whole factory?'" Sharon said.

Making PPE has helped the Fella Hamilton label to retain staff. Source: Scott Cardwell

The business collaborated with not-for-profit healthcare service Cabrini Health in Victoria to design isolation gowns with a water-resistant coating that can be washed at high temperatures.

The reusable garments also benefit the environment, by reducing the number of disposable gowns that end up in landfill.

“We absolutely appreciate what Fella Hamilton has done for us because staff safety is paramount when we are looking after these sick patients,” said Dr Vineet Sarode, Cabrini Health’s director of intensive care.

Dr Vineet Sarode is grateful to have a local supply of gowns and masks. Source: Scott Cardwell

Fella is recently out of hospital after having a stroke. She lives in Caulfield, south-east of Melbourne city. 

David says he is proud to have taken his mother’s work in a new direction this year and the couple plans to continue making health wear.

The global PPE market is expected to reach almost $90 billion by 2025, fuelled by the COVID-19 crisis. The fastest growth is expected to occur in the Asia-Pacific region.

Fella Hamilton's fashion label is now making protective clothing. Source: Supplied

Among the factory’s 40 staff are several new hires, including former travel industry workers grateful to have a job.

“[At the start of] COVID-19, the travel industry was virtually decimated,” said Lauren Owide, who manages customer service.    

“I'm blessed to have this opportunity. A lot of people are scrambling for jobs.”

“And I feel like I am helping on the frontline, caring for Aussies who are really battling.”

Former travel worker Lauren Owide is grateful to have a job at the factory. Source: Scott Cardwell

“My mother is so proud that we’ve been able to pivot the business during the pandemic,” David said. 

“She says it’s exactly what she did when she was starting out.”