When it comes to gender-affirming clothing, sleeveless, cropped chest binders, and inconspicuous tucking and packing underwear often dominate the conversation. But one mother-son duo from Melbourne is redefining what gender-affirming fashion looks like with their brand, Transform Transwear.
Like many trans-owned businesses in Australia (see: Sock Drawer Heroes and Dys4ick), Transform Transwear was born out of necessity. More specifically, it was born out of the need for access to comfortable, safe, and effective undergarments that were also reasonably priced and readily available.
“Eli came out as trans in 2020, and so my husband and I—who are both Gen X—had to go through an education to some extent. Part of that was learning about what it means, and how Eli feels about themselves, and how they’ve always felt. But part of that was also going through binders, which, at the time, were still very hard to get in Australia,” Co-founder of Transform Transwear, Simone Kelly, tells Not Safe For Queers.
In the months following, Simone and Eli would source binders from an array of international vendors, with little-to-no luck. “I wasn’t happy with any of them; I found that they would either bind quite well but be very restrictive and uncomfortable, or they would be really comfortable but not bind very well,” Simone says. “It made me quite sad, to be honest, to think that Eli was going through this kind of struggle every single day for such a basic item of clothing.”
Thus began a three-and-a-half-year journey for Simone and Eli, working to produce a range of compression wear without the issues that traditional binders have. Working with a local designer, the team came up with four designs, each constructed with multiple layers of compression, and lined with soft materials to reduce chafing and skin irritation.
But its Transform’s WIPs which are really redefining gender-affirming fashion.
“I didn’t ever want Transform to be a solely product-based business. Like, a big part of this was around community, and the fact that we went through this as a family and we didn’t have anyone else that had been through it at the time,” Simone explains. “So, with that being said, we’ve always let the community lead us in the direction of what products they want and need.”
In development at the moment are binders suitable for wearing post-op, a swimwear line, a sports binder—and even a range of outerwear suitable for all body types.
“We’ve got one surgeon in Melbourne using our binders for post-op surgery, but what we’ve done is that we’ve redesigned it to be more accommodating for post-op in that there’s now Velcro sleeves and a zip up the front so you can open it and dress your wounds.”
“Then we’ve got swimwear—both swim binders and shorts—hopefully launching in time for summer. And we’ve got an AFL plyer and a physiotherapist putting together a panel to make a safe and effective sports binder, because that’s something that keeps coming up in our conversations with community.”
Their final concept, however, is perhaps the most exciting. “We’ve had a lot of people talk to us about finding the right pants,” Simone begins. “Because, for example when Eli goes off to buy clothes, there’s a real absence of places: often they have to go into, like, a middle-aged men’s store. But buying men’s clothes doesn’t necessarily fit their body properly.”
“So, we’ve designed some super cool suits,” Simone reveals, “they’re just samples at this stage, but we’ve worked with a designer to get the silhouette right and get the shape right so that it fits well, feels good, makes you feel really good, and gives you the lines and the silhouette that you want.”
“And we’ve incorporated all of our fun stuff, too. So, there’s a bit of colour, we’ve embroidered stars. We’re just so excited about them.”
To keep up to date with Transform Transwear’s launch date(s), sign up to their mailing list. For all other inquiries—like fittings—Transform are available both online and in-store.