Fashion duo behind Leina & Fleur, Leina Broughton and Fleur Richardson have created The Random Notes of Kindness campaign which encourages women to write a simple and anonymous open message of hope, love, and encouragement to other women during the pandemic lockdowns.
The letters are being delivered along with the parcels leaving the Leina & Fleur warehouse to brighten a customer’s day.
“With the current situation throughout our country, we want to help share a little bit of love and good feelings with our incredible community,” Fleur Richardson said.
“It’s so incredible the way women want to lift each other up and be supportive. And it’s all coming from a place of annonminity, so it’s actually really cathartic for the women writing the note too.”
“A lot of people are saying they are getting a lot out of writing the letters than receiving them”.
Women across the country are reaching out to other people and sending ‘lockdown love letters’ of support.
With the ongoing lockdown, mental health issues are escalating, particularly among women who have carried the brunt of the economic damage and mental health strains.
In most households they are also taking on the mental load and majority of home-schooling tasks in addition to their usual work and household duties.
New data from the Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre revealed that women are struggling with high levels of depression, anxiety and PTSD due to the impacts of COVID-19.
A report by the Grattan Institute on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on women has also found that for women, unpaid workload grew during the crisis.
“We put the idea out and we’ve already had a great cache of correspondence sent in to us,” Fleur Richardson said.
“Women are then paying it forward – giving the love letter they’ve received to another woman and also scanning a QR code which links them back where they can also pen their own”.
Richardson and Broughton’s fashion label, which began in a Gold Coast garage, has amassed a large following in the last few years.
The brand’s aim is to create a sustainable fashion while being ethically and environmentally sustainable.
So far, thousands of people have joined a number of facebook groups dedicated to the brand, from Buy, Swap and Sell to ‘’share’’ pages where women post their daily outfits and comment on each other’s updates with encouragement.
Some women from regional areas have even been organising catch ups – some driving hours (where lockdown restrictions do no exist) just to meet up with friends they’ve met through the Leina & Fleur Facebook groups.
“It’s the sisterhood at its best,” Fleur Richardson said. To find out how you can join, see Leina & Fleur website.