Alchemy Construct Puts Social Procurement Into Action with Australian-Made Workwear

Alchemy Construct has partnered with Melbourne social enterprise Assembled Threads to supply Australian-made high-vis vests as part of the Big Housing Build with Homes Victoria, demonstrating how construction procurement can create meaningful social and economic impact.

When it comes to social procurement, where businesses spend their money matters.

Alchemy Construct is putting this principle into practice through its latest partnership with Assembled Threads, choosing Australian-made high-vis vests for its team as part of its work on the Big Housing Build with Homes Victoria.

The partnership demonstrates how a construction project can deliver benefits beyond the buildings themselves, using procurement to support local manufacturing, ethical employment and social impact.

Building more than homes

Alchemy Construct is helping deliver 54 new social housing apartments as part of the Big Housing Build. Alongside the construction outcomes, the project is creating opportunities to generate positive social and economic outcomes through responsible procurement.

By choosing to purchase high-vis workwear from Assembled Threads, Alchemy is directing part of its procurement spend towards a Melbourne-based social enterprise that creates employment and training opportunities for people from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds.

It is a practical example of social procurement in action: using everyday business spending to create benefits for people and communities.

Why Australian-made workwear matters

Assembled Threads manufactures uniforms and workwear locally in Melbourne, combining quality garment manufacturing with a strong social purpose.

Every high-vis vest manufactured at the Assembled Threads sewing hub represents more than a finished product. It supports local jobs, ethical wages and opportunities for skilled workers to build their careers in Australia.

For businesses, choosing Australian-made workwear can also provide greater visibility across the supply chain, while supporting local manufacturing capability and keeping more economic value within the Australian community.

For Alchemy, the decision to source locally means their workwear procurement is contributing to the wider social outcomes they are seeking to achieve through the project.

Putting procurement spend to work

Alchemy recognises that procurement is one of the most powerful tools a business has to influence social outcomes.

Rather than viewing workwear simply as a necessary project expense, the partnership with Assembled Threads demonstrates how procurement can become part of a broader social procurement strategy.

As Grace from Alchemy Construct explains, the organisation is focused on making sure its projects deliver more than great construction. They are also looking at how their business decisions can support people, uplift communities and create impact that lasts.

That approach is reflected in the decision to partner with a social enterprise that places people and purpose at the centre of its manufacturing model.

A partnership with purpose

For Assembled Threads, partnerships like this demonstrate the power of bringing together commercial businesses and social enterprises.

Alchemy receives quality, Australian-made high-vis workwear for its team. At the same time, its procurement spend helps support local employment, ethical manufacturing and pathways into meaningful work.

It is a partnership where quality and social impact go hand in hand.

We’re proud that Alchemy Construct has chosen Assembled Threads and grateful for the opportunity to contribute to a project that is creating both homes and opportunities.

Because the impact of a construction project should not stop at the building site.

When businesses choose to procure with purpose, every purchase has the potential to build something more.

About Assembled Threads
Assembled Threads is a Melbourne-based social enterprise specialising in ethical garment manufacturing, uniforms and workwear. We create meaningful employment and training opportunities for skilled migrants from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds while helping businesses make more responsible procurement choices.

Our manufacturing model brings together Australian-made production, ethical employment and circular solutions, helping organisations create positive social and environmental impact through the products they purchase.