If you happen to pass Arthur Galan on the streets of Melbourne, the chances are slim you will know that on the shoulders – and talent – of this man rests one of the most prominent Australian fashion labels.

A quiet achiever, he will simply notice random people on the street and cherish the fact that his designs are not just something that he loves – someone else loves it, too.

It feels great to be awarded the Fashion Laureate for Best Menswear Brand in Australia 2014 – which Arthur was recognised for by the industry earlier this year – but it feels just as good to see people on the street wearing AG gear, Arthur admits.

The simplicity with which Arthur Galan talks about his business and fashion brand you can attribute to his modesty.

For a Melbourne boy who grew up in a Greek Australian household of tailors, the fashion industry seemed like a path to follow.

Not that he didn’t apply himself in other areas – he studied commerce at Melbourne University. He even worked in corporate finance – one year there was enough for Arthur to realise that if you are going to spend your life working, at least do something you love.

As far as he can remember, Arthur was surrounded by tailors and sewing machines.

Not only were his migrant Greek parents tailors in their new homeland – Arthur’s maternal grandfather was a well known tailor in Greece.

“While growing up, I was involved in my parents’ business. During school holidays I would spend time at the factory, helping to cut a lay out fabric or cutting up labels, doing all sorts of things. It’s sort of in my blood. It was always something that was part of my DNA, because it’s something I was brought up with.
And when it’s always around you, it just becomes a part of your life.”

It was his belonging to Greek heritage, Arthur says today, the love of the history and family tradition, that gave him the sense of wanting to achieve more.

“The industry is never ending, it’s not a nine-to-five job – it’s weekends, after hours. My parents as immigrants who came to Australia worked very hard to make a life for themselves – I helped out whenever I could, and I enjoyed it. I suppose the passion sort of grew with time.”

When Arthur announced to his parents that he was giving up his corporate job for a job in the tailoring industry, they were horrified. But he was steadfast in his decision – it just felt like the right thing.

“I think when you enjoy what you do – it tends to work. If you can do something you enjoy that gives you a lifestyle and helps pay the bills – then why not?

“Studying commercial law at Melbourne University was great, it teaches you a lot about business, but I had a passion about tailoring and the fashion industry. My grandfather was a tailor – he had a tailoring store in Greece, my mother and father are both tailors. Here, my parents were making made-to-measure suits, all that sort of old school tailoring,” Arthur tells Neos Kosmos.

Confident about his passion, Arthur decided to set up a small manufacturing facility and to utilise the skills he learnt from his parents and grandfather. He started manufacturing for other designers, staying in business for many years to come. But his creativity was waiting to be exposed and trialled.

“There were two months of the year when there wasn’t that much production going on, it was in between season, and I needed to keep all my machinist and everyone busy, so I thought I’ll do something as a side business – I’ll open a store, and just put a small menswear range together.

“I was actually producing tailored womenswear for other designers. I decided to do menswear in my store, so it doesn’t conflict with what I was doing for others. I opened a store in Chapel Street, and that’s where it started.”
As he was able to fill the in-between season down-times in manufacturing, the retail model and the small Arthur Galan – from Galanopoulos – collection worked well alongside Arthur’s manufacturing business.

But, as the store faithful customer numbers grew quickly, business-minded Arthur thought it was too much effort for one store.

“How hard would it have been to open up another store? I was not going to do any more designing, any extra work on the development side – just make more units, and put in another store, and it would make it more cost effective. We opened the second store the day before we got married, it was November – I thought, if we don’t do it now we won’t do it until after Christmas,” Arthur relates with a laugh the brave endeavours of himself and his then bride-to-be, now wife, Mimi Galan.

The AG brand grew faster than expected, and five years later the Galans realised they could only keep up with manufacturing their own collection in their facility. It was then they stopped manufacturing for external brands.

After nine years in menswear, as a natural progression, Arthur decided to venture into the women’s area. In 2006 the women’s collection was added to the brand, taking it to another level with more stores being opened and the business growing rapidly.

Now Arthur Galan has a range that covers the whole gamut of clothing, through to footwear and accessories, with eight boutiques and 12 concession stores nationally.

“You need to be able to dress people from head to toe.

“You need to work hard, because of the nature of the industry. Every six months you are producing a new range of products. Everything changes – new fit,
shapes, colours, designs – every six months it’s all new.”

Since its first steps until today, the Arthur Galan label has differentiated itself with the high-end textiles it’s using. The philosophy of the brand, which has remained at the forefront, is focused on great fabric, a very precise cut, and a style that is always true to the brand.

After 16 years of designing for his self-titled brand, the main inspiration for Arthur comes from fabrics that he hand-picks and sources from Europe.

“My main inspiration is textiles that I source in Europe every six months and develop with the textile mills. It really is what starts my creative process for the collection. I feel that the expression is derived from the fabric first and the style second. The passion for design and quality is paramount – my brand integrity means everything to me.

“I look at the fabric and I think – wow, this is going to make the most amazing shirt, or fitted dress … and it evolves from there. The other side of it is all the little bits and pieces – the precise tailoring, the fit has to be right, the whole collection has to work.

“Being able to service your customers, you never stop working at it to make sure you’ve got the latest thing that people want. You need to please them; you need to know what they are coming to you for,” Arthur explains.

Having started as menswear that offered a bit more of a fashion edge, with the quality of the fabric and its unique look being of utmost importance, Arthur Galan takes collections to a new level, with his characteristic clean silhouette.

“Sixteen years ago Australia was very different, with so many international brands coming in. I wanted to do something that is of a beautiful quality – you don’t really want to just have to work in order to get something for a particular price. There is always going to be someone who is going to be cheaper. For me it was very important to focus on quality, great fabric and design detail, a tailored look.

“Womenswear taught me another side, it opens your eyes to how women and men shop. Women are particular, whereas men know what they want. You can push womenswear a bit more with design and that’s exciting. They are both fun ranges to prepare.”

Since AG started conquering the Australian market, the role of its founder and designer has changed.

At the beginning, you simply do everything yourself, Arthur says with a laugh.

Now, he gets to focus on products and design while his wife Mimi concentrates purely on the marketing and PR of the AG brand.

“But, at the end of the day, it’s our business, so you have to know the overall aspects, you own the brand and the business. We have two children, so we both work between the industry, kids, sporting commitments with kids and other – but it’s fun, you just do it.”

As Melbourne Spring Fashion Week is about to hit the stage at the end of the month, AG is ready to showcase both its new male and female collections, featuring lots of colour and print.

Running from August 30 until September 7, MSFW will include runways, films, workshops and free events held around the city.

The AG collection as a whole showcases the ideas, silhouettes and colour palette for the season, with Arthur readily waiting for its designs to hit racecourses around the country.

“For menswear, printed outer wear is quite big so we are focusing on that – whether it be floral design or something else. It’s still quite masculine, but just a bit more fun. In summer and spring – especially during the spring carnival, men do tend to edge out of their realm of comfort, they push it further, especially with the races – it’s a fun time. Womenswear will feature quite graphic design, prints on dresses, there is quite a strong animal brushstrokes deal going on with pinks and oranges and strong colours. They work very well together.”

The important thing about Spring Fashion Week, in Arthur’s opinion, is that customers are given a great overview of a designer’s vision.

“Spring Fashion Week is great because it gives us the opportunity to get out there to the consumer. There are a lot of fashion weeks – some of them more for the industry, others for the consumer. This one you get your customers going – it’s open to the public. It’s about engaging the customer. We showcase what’s in store now, that’s the whole idea. It’s not like the industry fashion week where you are showing a catwalk of what’s going to go in the following season.”

Passionate tailors, both of Arthur’s parents still remain in the industry.

His mother Meni Galanopoulos still welcomes faithful customers at her Meni’s tailoring and alterations shop, just above the AG women’s store on Chapel Street.

“It’s different now, they don’t do made-to-measure suits anymore – they do more alterations. They’ve done their bit, but they still like to work. Most of the alterations for our store customers are done by them.”

It was here, in the early 1990s, that Meni found herself unofficially mentoring a stream of soon-to-be iconic fashion designers, like Bettina Liano, Roy Christou and Wayne Cooper.

But it’s the role of a Greek mother that gives her the right to, now and then, pop into the AG head office in Richmond to have a quick glance at – and criticise if need be – her son’s latest range.

“As with every Greek mother – if there is a mistake she will let you know, she won’t hold back,” Arthur laughs.

The Arthur Galan Parade will be on Thursday 4 September, Designer Runway 3, at 6.30 pm. For more information about Melbourne Spring Fashion Week, visit https://thatsmelbourne.com.au/msfw