Corina Muir

Amber Days is made for mindful, adventurous, free spirited little ones, who are the next generation of change makers. 

I am Corina, an Aboriginal mother, nature protector, artist, designer and campaigner. I’m the founder of Amber Days - an Aboriginal owned, Melbourne based ethical children’s wear label that is inspired by the Australian bush, desert and sea. 

Amber Days has been in business for just over a year now, and in that time we’ve produced two beautiful collections Yurringa and Nurtja representing stories from the Worimi country all the way to Wurundjeri Country in collaboration with Yukul Art, Lara Went and Taylah Aimee. 

I am now excited to be launching our third collection, Wanala, in collaboration with desert artist Arkie Barton and would love your support in helping make it a reality.

Wanala collection 

Wanala means 'summer' in Yorta Yorta language, and is a collection celebrating summer and a change in the seasons. This is Amber Day's third collection, and will feature a variety of childrens clothes including bike shorts, linen crops and pants. Made with organic linens and organic cotton and printed with non toxic eco friendly dyes, the Wanala collection is designed by desert artist Arkie Barn.

Arkie Barton is an emerging artist, fashion and textile designer, currently living in Naarm/Melbourne. Arkie is a proud Kalkadungu woman, whose art practice draws from her Indigenous heritage to create beautiful contemporary pieces across multiple disciplines. She created her self named clothing label Arkie the Label in 2015 as a platform for mainstream Australia to engage with contemporary Aboriginal culture through a creative form everyone must interact with, fashion. 

About Amber Days

Amber Days in its current form, is Australia’s only Aboriginal owned and designed eco children’s wear collaborating with other Aboriginal artists. Amber Days was born out of my desire to follow my dreams and have financial freedom for me and my daughter without jeopardizing the importance of being a present mum, which is so valuable to me. I have always been passionate about the environment and people so when falling pregnant with my daughter, finding clothing that didn’t use harmful chemicals in their processes was really important to me.  I started Amber Days to create a luxury item that celebrates my culture whilst also providing me, a single mother with financial independence and flexibility. As I grow, I hope to continue to create this opportunity for other mothers and Aboriginal women.

Why are we unique?

Sharing and celebrating Aboriginal culture

It is important to have ethical diversity and representation in the fashion industry. Through Amber days we hope to continue to share culture and stories, just like we have for tens of thousands of years, through collaborating with Aboriginal artists for our prints and sharing those stories with our Yalka, our children. With each collection, there is a new opportunity to collaborate with Aboriginal women artists to share a story of culture and connection to land.

Wearing Aboriginal designs gives me strength and pride and I hope to instil in our yalka - our children- a strong sense of identity and pride when they wear our designs. 

When outsourcing skills and services, we prioritise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, refugee and migrant women, because as we know, women are the leading forces behind healthy communities and society. All garments are hand made here in Melbourne, so you know that the garment your buying is made to last and wear to its full potential. And what is more special than being able to pass down your favourite garment to your next child or generation to come especially when that garment holds onto so many beautiful memories.

Supporting women

Here at Amber Days we aim to support women, prioritizing working with single mothers with a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, refugee and migrant women. Our reason behind this is to address the fact that even in 2019 while there is a lot of “talk” about equal work opportunities, this is not always the reality. Women still face multiple barriers to accessing paid work and even more so due to challenges like being a single mum or facing other systemic barriers. This can make finding purposeful and sustainable paid work almost impossible. Many women have to then make choices between earning an income and caring for their child the way they choose to.  Here at Amber Days we strongly believe that there needs to be big changes with the way employment is structured, so that caring for your child and paid work can co exist.

Environmental sustainability

After doing some research into the fashion industry and the toxins and practices used, I was pretty terrified. This really reinforced the importance of transparency in the fashion industry and buying from designers that use organic fabrics that have been dyed with non toxic dyes and produced ethically. The fast fashion industry needs to change and we need to support the ones making this change.

For this reason, we strive to not only create Amber Days with as minimal impact to the environment but also be a positive change to the fashion industry by supporting local and ethical manufacturers and fabric suppliers. We use GOTS certified organic fabrics and all our fabrics are dyed using non toxic eco friendly dyes. All the garments are hand sewn in Melbourne by female owned businesses. We believe it’s really important to reduce your carbon footprint so we strive to do everything as local as possible!

About Me

Hi, I am Corina, a  proud Yorta Yorta woman, single mother, activist, artist and founder of Amber Days . I have previously worked in the community health, youth work and the environment movement. I currently work at Global Sisters as an accelerator coordinator, working specifically with Aboriginal women in North East Victoria to start their businesses.

I launched Amber Days in October 2018.  In the short time since Amber Days was launched, I’ve established a loyal customer base and following and have experienced steady sales and sold out of the first two collections and had to do a restock of my current collection to keep up with demand.. Amber Days has recently been featured in British Vogue in a three-month advertorial, and is soon to be stocked on The Iconic, Australia’s leading online fashion retailer. It was also the recipient of the Indigenous Scholarship through one of Australia’s biggest designer markets, Finders Keepers, and has recently expanded from online store to include a variety of stockists across Victoria, NSW and Tasmania.

Get in touch at [email protected] or follow Amber Days on social media.

$25,000 would enable me to continue to collaborate with Aboriginal artists and showcase their stories through the Wanala collection, expanding my reach and enabling me to match the thriving demand for my products. I am now at a vital time for my business, poised to launch into the international market through British Vogue and the Iconic. 

My vision is to launch the Wanala collection at the beginning of January 2020, with an official launch event in mid January. Below is a breakdown of the costs involved in bringing the Wanala collection to life.

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