Good Neighbours – a story about the reality of Australian clothing donated to other countries
Watch the documentary and speak directly to the research team in this final #ActsOfConnection for 2026.
An Australian-first research project led by Associate Professor Tiziana Ferrero-Regis, along with Dr Zoe Mellick, the powerful 11-minute exposé, directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker Associate Professor Phoebe Hart takes viewers on a journey through the reality of our clothing donated and exported to other countries. While exposing the environmental toll of fast fashion, it also uncovers a story about the lives of local women who rely on second-hand trade for survival and betterment.
The project was supported by the Faculty Strategic Project Support Scheme of the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice, the QUT Centre for Environment and Society, and the QUT Centre for Justice.
Presenters:
Associate Professor Tiziana Ferrero-Regis (Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice | School of Design, Fashion).
Tiziana is an educator and researcher, co-leader of QUT research group TextileR, and the Community theme leader at QUT Design Lab. Her research focus is on place-based circular economy, sustainability, system design and textile value chains. She is a CI in the ARC DP 2025 project Valuing the handmade: Investigating a place-based approach to circular fashion and textile economies. Her current project investigates the value chain of secondhand clothing and the co-creation of value renegotiated through democratic processes that engage diverse voices that are traditionally excluded from policy-making.
Dr Zoe Mellick (Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice | School of Design, Fashion)
Zoe is a Lecturer in Fashion at Queensland University of Technology whose research and teaching focus on sustainability transitions across fashion and textile systems. She is a Chief Investigator on the ARC Discovery Project Valuing the Handmade for Circular Fashion and Textile Economies. Her broader research explores how environmental, social, cultural and economic value is created across textile supply chains.
Film Director:
Associate Professor Phoebe Hart (Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice | School of Creative Arts, Film, Screen & Animation)
Associate Professor Phoebe Hart is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and researcher whose work explores creative practice, diversity on and off screen, and social justice through film. Phoebe is best known for the internationally acclaimed Orchids: My Intersex Adventure and, more recently, Good Neighbours, a documentary examining the second-hand clothing trade between Australia and the Solomon Islands.
