At age 18, fresh out of high school, Athan Didaskalou opened his first business — a charcoal chicken shop. Now, he’s the co-founder of the wildly successful luggage brand July which supplied the Australian team with their suitcases at the Paris Olympic Games just last year.
Speaking at the Hellenic Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HACCI) Young Professionals Network event at Vanilla last month, Athan said it took him a long time to work out where he wanted his career to go — and credits his non-linear pathway with his success at July.
With white-collar professionals as parents, Athan starting his career in the takeaway food industry was “a departure from what they were used to… but even then, they were fully supportive of it and always tried to help along the way,” he told Neos Kosmos.
After the chicken shop, Athan moved on to starting his own marketing consultancy. After that, it was a coffee distribution business, and a co-working space. Finally, he landed on selling luggage under the name July after meeting co-founder Richard Li.
Named after the month most associated with ‘let’s go on holiday’, Athan loves the industry because it lends itself to interesting conversations.
“When people are looking for suitcases, they’re usually going on a trip … you get to talk to them about the restaurants they want to try or places they plan to visit.”
Famously, thousands of Greek-Australians flock to the motherland mid-year, braving 24 hours in transit to maintain their connection to the country: “If you’re not on a holiday in July, your Instagram feed is filled with people in Mykonos and Santorini,” he jokes.
For Athan, visiting Greece is a chance to visit family — Thessaloniki to visit his dad’s side of the family, and Tripoli to visit his mum’s. Both of his parents were born in Greece and emigrated as kids. When asked about how his Greek heritage influences his approach to business, Athan says it’s placing generosity at the heart of the company.
“It’s how we look after customers, but it’s a value that we want to see in our people as well. It is something that you can’t teach people … you can teach people the job, but you can’t teach people how to be a good person,” he tells Neos Kosmos.
“Mentorship programs are where the real transformation happens. The earlier you start building connections and learning from others, the better equipped you are to carve your own path.”
“Every new generation, they think they’re doing things for the first time. That they’re unique, that the previous generation doesn’t know what they’re doing,” Athan laughs. “I still think that it’s important to nurture the next generation.
He likens starting a business to running a track race: “You might not win your first one, but after a couple of goes, you’re comfortable with how the starting pistol sounds, and you’ve got all the gear… you’re ready to put your best foot forward.”
July currently has 28 in-person stores around the world, with locations from Selfridges in London to Shanghai Times Square.
