Technology News

Funky Shirt Friday

The Construction Immersion students are no strangers to getting their hands dirty each Day 5 putting in a huge full day of work at the College and wearing the correct PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) with rugged High Viz shirts in place of their uniform. This term is slightly different as we have adopted a Funky Shirt Friday initiative in support of Mental Health. The shirts also have a catchphrase on the back of them stating “This is A Conversation Starter”

TradeMutt is a social enterprise workwear company by tradies for tradies. We make funky, eye-catching workwear designed to start conversations about mental health making an invisible issue impossible to ignore.

TIACS (This is a Conversation Starter) provides free mental health counselling for tradies, truckies, farmers, rural, and blue-collar workers, and the people that love them.

By wearing a TradeMutt shirt to work, it sends a message that you're making the invisible issue of tradie mental health impossible to ignore.

The peer-to-peer effect of conversation-starting TradeMutt workwear is bringing down social and cultural barriers that stop tradies from talking about how they're really doing.

Lifting the pocket flap on your work shirt and scanning the QR code gives you or whoever you're talking to access to TIACS right away and offers immediate support. Hard questions, tough conversations, open and honest yarns about what's going on that's getting to you that you can't talk to your mates about.

By wearing a funky shirt every Friday we are turning the best day of the week into the one day of the week where we can all take ownership of our own mental health and encourage meaningful conversations with those around us.

The only way to truly change the culture surrounding mental health is by taking action over what we can control, and that starts with the way we speak and act ourselves. The best day to put yourself out there is a Friday, and the best way to put yourself out there is by wearing a funky shirt. Funky Shirt Fridays - wearing outrageously funky shirts on the best day of the week to encourage meaningful conversations and make an invisible issue impossible to ignore.

Thank you to the College Leadership Team for recognising the importance of this initiative and allowing the students to wear these shirts on their Construction Immersion Days. Thanks also must go to Mr Ben Cribb for getting this project off the ground. Thank you to the students who have embraced this idea and wear the shirts proudly.