250321_081454_3212974 Now The Lights Are Going Out At Rivers (Fri 21 Mar 25)

Shop Lower Ground S002, Wollongong Central, NSW, Australia

To be honest, as recently as mid-January I didn't see myself shooting and writing this one. In shot 250115_055403_1642 (from 15 January) I wrote about the financial troubles of the Mosaic Fashion Group, the parent company of (amongst other brands) Rivers. The receivers had hoped to sell off the Rivers brand as a going concern since it was well known in Australia, and wasn't as niche as some of the other labels in the chain. (Yes, its demographics probably skewed a bit older... but does that really matter given that that's where a lot of the discretionary spending money is?)

As per an edit that I made to that photo's caption, that idea had died by 23 January. Like all of the other brands in the Mosaic group, Rivers was put on death watch.

Rivers, "Footwear and Clothing Merchants", is not a recent brand. Its predecessor was started in Charlton, a small town in Victoria about 220km NW of Melbourne, by Joe Paddle and his sons in the year 1863. It was then called the Paddles Operations, and only manufactured and sold shoes.

The rivers.com.au website is now dead, but I have some screenshots of the "about us" history pages from when it was still alive. In 1863, it started operations as I said above. In 1960, Paddle Brothers (as it then was, apparently) moved to Bendigo. Uuuuhhh... yeah. I think a few things may have happened in the intervening 97 years, but being a private company at the time it's likely that they were not documented and archived.

I did find some advertisements from the 1950s extolling "Jaunties by Paddles", saying of the wearer: "Lucky Miss! Lovely You! Hit parading the high spots with these lovely colour-vibrant, eye snaring, foot-flattering casuals".

The next entry was at the start of the company's modern era in 1979. The name Rivers was adopted, and it entered a partnership with another Australian shoe maker to provide shoes to major department stores and shoe store chains. I believe the company was only doing men's shoes at the time, but that isn't completely clear (especially given the "Jaunties" ads from the 1950s). In 1983 Rivers opened its first own brand retail store in Sydney. By 1991 it had 20 stores and was definitely producing women's shoes. By 1993 it had 50 stores, had moved into men's fashion, and was being endorsed by then-Australian sports stars like Peter Brock (motor racing, died 2006), Max Walker and David Hookes (cricketers, died 2016 and 2004 respectively), and Ron Barassi (Australian Football, died 2023). My point about the dates of death there? The company's glory days are somewhat faded from where I'm typing in 2025. Of course, 32 years is 32 years, even if it doesn't always feel like it.

In 2000 Rivers moved into women's fashion, and had reached 100 stores. In 2013 it was bought by Specialty Fashion, and 5 years later it was bought by what is now the rapidly dying Mosaic group.

The official history left out an important part. Up until the early 2000s production was still centred around a factory in Victoria. The production standards were high and advertisements from 1979 emphasised the product quality compared to copies of the shoes. According to a Reddit post by someone who worked there, this was still the case in 2007 but by 2008 production had started to move offshore... with product standards dropping off as a result. I thought it may have happened earlier but I doubt it happened all at once.

You could still get some good, solid clothes at Rivers, even in recent years. You would rarely find anything stylish, rarely anything that you would want to be seen around town in, but to wear around the house, or shopping, or on a weekend away, you could get some good, sturdy clothes. Not as well made as those from 2 decades earlier in quality of fabric or cut, but nothing to be ashamed of wearing either. Mostly. Let us not speak of Hawaiian prints. Most of the clothes came from Bangladesh, which does have an (earned) reputation for making solid clothes. (Reputedly Mosaic owes 23 Bangladeshi factories some $AUD30 million, which I'd question whether they'll ever see. The knock on effect on the factory workers is likely to be... sub-optimal.)

Shoes are a different matter; they could be very hit and miss. Right now I have on a pair of canvas-like slippers that I bought 3 years and 2 days ago. They're fine for wearing around the house, or even out of it if I forget to change them... but they're a far cry from when (some) Rivers shoes could be considered a cheaper version of some of the premium brands like RM Williams.

Mostly I associate Rivers with the early 2000s when I started heading away for long weekends. I could get a low maintenance Rivers shirt which I could toss in my overnight bag, and wear it walking through the bush on a photo shoot as well as at a local restaurant that evening. It might have had me thrown out of the Monte Carlo Casino if I turned up in it, but I wasn't going there. I still have plenty of old Rivers shirts which will still last me for a while, and they'll need to for there will be no more of them.

I never expected Rivers to die. Hey, back when I was wearing Rivers shirts on weekend getaways nobody expected Brock, Walker et al to be gone any time soon either. But gone they have, and Rivers will be gone within days taking with it another link to the past of many Australians of various ages. Will it be missed? Certainly by the 650 people who are now without a job, it will be. Outside of that? {Shrug} By some people, I expect, especially in country areas where Rivers was probably the largest clothing store in town. Like some Australian clothing manufacturers before it (Fletcher Jones comes to mind), what will be missed more is how you used to be able to buy locally produced, quality goods... but that ship had already sailed with Rivers anyway.

The doors to the past only ever close, not open... and another of them is slamming shut in this shot.

Taken in: Australia / New South Wales / Wollongong (show map)

Taken on: March 21, 2025

Tags:

Illawarra

Wollongong

200 Crown Street

Wollongong Central

Rivers Clothing Store

Outdoors Clothing Store

Store Closing Down

Shop LG S002

Lower Ground Floor

Local Places Theme

New South Wales (NSW)

Australia « less

Sets appears in: • The Good, The Bad and the PESO; 2025 Visual Diary • Local Places

Camera: OM Digital Solutions OM-5, f/2.8, 1/80 sec, 8mm (=16mm), ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	OM Digital Solutions OM-5
Lens:	OLYMPUS M.8mm F1.8
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.013 sec (1/80)
Focal Length:	8mm (35mm equivalent: 16mm)
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	On, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 25.9 (Windows)
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