Made590

In 2003, Christina Kelly was running successful market stalls at Bondi and Paddington, selling screen-printed T-shirts that she made in her grandma’s garage. Opening a shop was the logical next step.

Made590, her clothing and homewares boutique, has become a fixture of Newtown’s independent retail scene, having outlasted many of its contemporaries. Its success comes down to a supportive local community whose excitement about the brand is as strong today as it was when the shop first opened.

Kelly is passionate about local manufacturing, and all her designs are produced in Marrickville, St Peters and Newington. Designs are influenced by the classic shapes of vintage fashion. Circle skirts of the 1950s and shift dresses of the 1960s are made up in the brand’s signature brightly patterned fabric, much of which is designed in house.

The shop also supports independent makers, carrying Australian labels such as The Raisin Did It, Surface Art and POL. True to its roots, it still does the market circuit, now focusing efforts on the biannual Finders Keepers Markets in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, and Marrickville’s own Makers and Shakers Market.