Marcus Crook, co-founder of HoMie, on creating upcycled brand REBORN and building partnerships | Episode 3

Marcus Crook is the co-founder HoMie, which stands for Homelessness of Melbourne Incorporated Enterprise, a not for profit which supports young people affected by homelessness or hardship. He’s also the creative director of their offshoot brand REBORN, which remakes damaged and unsold stock into new designs, which is what we’ll be focusing on in today’s episode. REBORN by HoMie was launched at Melbourne Fashion Festival in 2020, with their first collaboration with Champion following soon after. They use returns and damaged stock, which they cut, sewed and printed into new pieces. They source these materials from both the HoMie brand as well as other partners such as Nobody Denim, Upparel, Into Carry, and Champion. REBORN has also recently taken home some awards in acknowledgement of the work they do, including as a finalist for the Victorian Premier Design Award in 2020, and received a gold at the Australian Good Design Awards 2021.

This episode kicks off with how it all began, when REBORN organically grew out having a play with some leftover stock. We talk about how their existing networks and partners supported them through various collaborations, and the steps involved. Next, we talk more about the negotiation side, discussing their collaboration with Into Carry and what makes them love working with someone. Marcus also shares more about the partnership dynamics and breaks down how this can be split with both finances and responsibility. Finally, we talk Covid, challenges and grants, and how these have intersected with the brand, with Marcus wrapping up with his advice for others looking to work in this way.

About the Research:

This podcast is part of my (Julia English’s) PhD research at RMIT University. Please note, engagement with this podcast (for example, reviews) will be included in the research. If you wish your engagement to be excluded, please email me (Julia.english@student.rmit.edu.au). Your engagement helps me understand whether sharing interviews in this way is helpful and assists my research in identifying if this knowledge is of value to the local industry. You can find more information on my Instagram including an FAQ section, as I am also using feedback through my social media channels.

My research is looking into how people like Marcus are working together to do these types of projects, where waste is being remade into new things. The way that I am finding out more about these types of projects is through interviews, and that is what you are listening to on the podcast. As noted in the recording, these are edited to create a smooth sounding podcast and some parts of the interview may have been excluded if not suitable for public sharing, or if the interview was overly long.

This research project has had ethics approval through RMIT University (2021-24506-15223).

Links & Contact Info:

For more on HoMie: https://homie.com.au/

For REBORN: https://homie.com.au/pages/rebornbyhomie

Keen to connect with me?

Instagram: _julia.english_

Email: julia.english@student.rmit.edu.au

Credits:

Music by Frank Henry, with thanks.

This PhD research is funded by an Australian Research Training Program Scholarship.

Transcripts & Citation:

For access to both pdf and text files of transcripts, head over here: https://doi.org/10.25439/rmt.19172570

Please cite as:

English, Julia (2022): Marcus Crook, co-founder of HoMie, on creating upcycled brand REBORN and building partnerships | Episode 3 | Seam Change Podcast. RMIT University. Media. https://doi.org/10.25439/rmt.19172570