Buying online is oh so convenient and easy! The tough part is zeroing in on which brand to get. There are millions of makers to buy hats, fascinators, headpieces and millinery online from. How do you know if you’ve landed the right one? It’s personal, we know! But here’s why we’re sure you’ll be happy to buy from us if you decide to.

We’re proud to be Australian-born

We’ve been around since 2013, baby! We’re beyond grateful for the love we get from our customers over the years, especially through the COVID-19 pandemic. With our community’s support, our talented Australian-based milliners continue to handcraft almost all of our designer headwear pieces and fashion accessories in our studio. 

Fun fact: FORD MILLINERY began in Melbourne and expanded into Sydney, where we now send our designer headwear all over the country and overseas from. 

Designing and hand-crafting in Australia is by far not the most effective business model (read: it’s expensive!) but we are proud of and want to continue highlighting our local team of incredibly talented makers. 

We’re a female-led brand

Chantelle Ford, Founder and Creative Director of FORD MILLINERY

Yay, women! We love and embrace all genders — shoutout to our ever-welcome male friends and our lovely LGBTQIA community — but we’d like to take this moment to highlight the leadership of our founder, Chantelle Ford, and the passion of our mostly female staff. 

Fun fact: Our staff is 99% women and we’re definitely excited to welcome more people — no matter their gender —  in the future!

We’re deeply appreciative of our customers who believe in a business built from the ground up by women.

We are an incredibly hands-on small business

We’re tiny but mighty! And we’re not bound by red tape and bureaucracy. The Founder is still hands on working on the business every single day. (Note from the author: It’s true! She still oversees everything — including what you’re reading right now.) We achieve big things with our small team of incredibly capable mostly women staff.

Slow fashion is our priority

Slow fashion is our thing!

FORD MILLINERY is a 100% carbon-neutral fashion label and we are dedicated to continuously improving our impacts on this precious Earth. The fashion industry is not perfect, but we are focused on becoming a sustainable fashion label  to the best of our abilities. 

Our packaging is eco-friendly — we use recyclable cardboard boxes with no plastic film. We also use biodegradable satchel bags/mailers and biodegradable packing tape.

When we say we love slow fashion, we mean it! We order and make what we need. We never mass produce. Fast fashion? Yeah, we don’t know that.

As a brand, we also encourage our customers to choose quality hand-crafted products that stand the test of time. And we love outfit repeaters too! Re-wear your pieces as many times as you wish, please. 

We prefer fast shipping

If you’re looking for millinery, fascinators, headbands and fashion accessories with same day delivery, you’ve come to the right place, baby! ALL of our products are available for same-day shipping (check our shipping terms for further details), with an easy 30-day returns policy. 

We can see the future… of fashion trends

No crystal ball needed. We don’t react to trends because we see them from far away — seasons away. We cast our eyes ahead to forecast the clothing that we feel our audience will wear and design headwear to complement it. 

We create iconic style statements that celebs and fashion experts love

Singer Samantha Jade wearing a custom FORD MILLINERY piece, as styled by Donny Gallela

We design and craft pieces that transcend seasons and fads. We create iconic style statements that stylists, celebrities, fashion media and fashion lovers adore.

We’re incredibly honoured to be a celebrity millinery that is able to dress iconic people from all over the world — from Delta Goodrem to Kelly Rowland — and create connections with the most discerning stylists, amazing brands (including Van Cleef and Arpels, Review and CAMILLA) and fashion editors in Australia (Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and more) and beyond. (Check out our media section to have a look at who've worn our pieces so far!)

We love what we do

Most importantly, our team just LOVE what we do and there is an incredible amount of thought and care behind everything that reaches your hand (and head!). It would be our honour to dress you in FORD MILLINERY.