Lily Brazel, Australian Field Hockey International and Founder of Stature Clothing, Brings Style & Passion to EcoAthletes Supporters Squad
Lily Brazel playing for the Australian National Field Hockey team in a 2019 match vs. Belgium in Melbourne (Photo credit: Hockey Australia)
Lily Brazel knows that, like Mick Jagger once said, time waits for no one.
Not in sports.
Not in sustainable business.
And certainly not in the climate change fight.
That is why the 25 year-old member of Australia’s national field hockey team and the founder of Stature Australia, the clothing company that “creates garments that allow Athletes to thrive and perform at their peak, whilst minimizing their impact on Earth,” has decided to kickstart the #climatecomeback by becoming an EcoAthletes Supporter.
Brazel joined EcoAthletes because she knows that, 1. The climate comeback needs to start…yesterday, and 2. Athletes need to play a key role.
Lily Brazel wears her values proudly in Stature’s ethical performance apparel (Photo credit: Stature Australia)
“As athletes, whether rightly or wrongly, we’re almost graced with a platform, with a voice, just because we are good at sport,” Brazel reflected. “People want to hear what athletes have to say and want to follow and believe what they believe in the hope they can either be like them or because they’re such dedicated fans. The platform we have as athletes can be extremely powerful – so why not use to bring about change for the greatest threat to human life. If more athletes use their voice in the way EcoAthletes is helping us to do, then I’m more hopeful of our future.”
Walking the environmental walk while talking the environmental talk was a family affair for the Brazels.
“My passion for the environment began when I was about 15 or 16 when my sister started to explore plastic-free living,” recalled Brazel. “As a family we started to become very aware of the impact plastic was having on the environment and how unnecessary it was for food packaging. So, we began to adopt a plastic-free approach to grocery shopping and started to source our foods from local markets and from stores where you could bring your own containers to buy rice and flour etc… We adopted vegetarian diets which then progressed to plant based diets.”
Playing field hockey at the top level in the world did not stop the midfielder from taking her environmentalism to a similar strata. “In my early twenties, I started to learn about the impact the fashion industry had on the environment and on human life,” Brazel said. “As I learnt more and researched more, I was blown away by the massive environmental problems in this industry and felt a deep sense that it was my duty to solve them. Ethical fashion, sustainability and plastic-free living became deeply engrained into my life so much so that they led me to start Stature Australia, the ethical performance apparel brand aiming to serve a thriving Earth and thriving athletes. It has become the expression of all my passions and journey to this point – elite performance, fashion and sustainability.”
The Australian National Team midfielder brings an infectious optimism about the #climatecomeback to the EcoAthletes Supporters roster. She also has high expectations for the organization.
“I am excited about joining this community of engaged, active people who are aware of this great climate threat but are not scared by it,” offered Brazel. “Success for EcoAthletes doesn’t look too dissimilar to what success looks like for Stature, and that is to lead by example by living in the most compassionate way possible to give us all a chance for a healthy, livable future.”