Words by Christopher Kevin Au. Halfsleeve will be hosting farewell drinks tomorrow on Friday, June 23 from 6:00pm and will shut the following Sunday. Check all the event details here, and find them at Shop 3/133 Goulburn Street in Surry Hills.

After nine years, Sydney boutique Halfsleeve will be shutting its doors indefinitely.

Sitting on a busy Goulburn Street intersection on the border of Surry Hills, Halfsleeve has been an institution – not only for its own in-house garments and steady supply of international labels, but for its rigorous support of all things local. Over the years, Halfsleeve has worked with local brands (For The Homies, Sydney Romantics) and musicians (One Day, Thundamentals) and artists (Chris Yee, James Jirat Patradoon) with a fiercely independent mindset.

Before I helped out at Halfsleeve, I was always a customer: It was a store where you could cop your item of choice with genuine advice, stay for a yarn, and return two weeks later when the new stock arrived. When I mentioned Halfsleeve in an article written for Acclaim Magazine, owner Teik Chew reached out to say thankyou over Facebook chat. In 2013, I started lending my hands around the store and annoying everybody by playing Waka Flocka Flame’s Flockaveli all day.

Those years provided some fond memories – rambunctious annual birthday parties, Halfsleeve’s 3-on-3 basketball competition with complimentary BBQ chicken wings, the interstate pop-up with the Saint Side crew, and trying on freshly-delivered full tracksuits everytime winter rolled around. Throughout it all, Teik has been the core owner and operator of Halfsleeve for close to a decade, and given tirelessly back to the community that he’s helped to build.

With the impending closure of their physical space and a move exclusively into the online world, I caught up with him to reflect on the history of Halfsleeve and discuss plans for the future:

What prompted you to start Halfsleeve 9 years ago? What was the clothing space like back then, and how do you think it has changed over the years?

So, I’ve worked the retail clothing game since I was 18 back in 2000. Always been a fan of a good t-shirt, always will be. Back then, in terms of good spots, there was only SuperPosition in the QVB (where I was) and maybe Central Station Records on Oxford. Besides that, you were pretty hard out trying to find something that not everyone else was rocking.

After working in Japan for a few years around 2005, and seeing the retail scene over there, it was crazy to come back to Sydney and not have that choice of spots to cop from anymore. So after I mulled over the idea and saved for a few years. I opened my shop with the sole intention of creating a shop that brought in brands that I liked, and an environment that was friendly and easy for my customers. 2008 is when I eventually got my shit together, if you remember, it was when the big second wave of ‘streetwear’ was at its peak. Brands like Supreme, The Hundreds, Staple, Crooks, Mishka, Bape, Recon etc were really popping off, and copping online still wasn’t an easy option.

Just in terms of Sydney around then, shoutout to Andy at SP, Ritchie at Another Inch, Sean at Supply, Nick at Freshin and Phil at Footage for laying the groundwork for us to exist. Since then, I’ve seen maybe two dozen independent shops open, and some close, around the country doing similar things – and it’s all love, I’ve always said the more of us there are, the greater exposure our scene gets, and the less people are stuck having to go to the majors.

Now with Capsule and us closing, the ease at which you can cop online now, the rise of cancers like Culture Kings and the majors trying to encroach on our game, the scene has definitely shifted, but I still think there will always be a spot for a shop that offers something more than just pushy 18 year old salespeople or free international delivery.

Going ahead, there are still great independents out there that you can support. Saint Side and Sure in Melbourne, Laced in Brisbane, Above The Clouds here and if you skate, UPS know whats up. There are heaps of other good local joints too so make sure you hunt them down. Support your local, always.

It seems like it’s tough times for Sydney – you mentioned that Halfsleeve’s closure will be following in the footsteps of Capsule. What’s it like operating an independent boutique in this environment?

Running an independent in the current climate is not too different to running one back when I started, it’s just that you have to move with the times. Obviously online is where it’s at now, with more young dudes preferring that instant cop over the in-store experience. In the place of other physical stores in the local area being your competition, you now have the whole world to compete against. It’s fun, it’s a challenge, but it’s just how shit is now. We’ve been really slack with our online game (apologies to our customers) but we plan to launch a new cleaner website in the next few weeks so hopefully we can make our own little dent.

You have collaborated with a lot of brands, artists and crews over the years. What are some of the highlights or favourites?

Collaborating with like-minded brands and artists is definitely one of the best things that came from starting our brand. Now that we are closing the shop and concentrating on just our clothing brand, I look forward to the chance of working with a lot more in the future. To date, I’ve honestly really liked all the collabs we’ve done. It’d be kinda unfair to single out one, but the range we did with Chris Yee last year, the exhibition we did with Yone Yasumasa, and the collabs we did for our 4th year anniversary have been some of my personal faves.

Halfsleeve has always had a big emphasis on community spirit, from supporting Indigenous mentoring programs to running basketball competitions. When did you realise that Halfsleeve could be a vehicle with a message, and more than just a store?

From day one, I’ve been overwhelmed with the support our customers have given us. We still have customers that support us today after almost 9 years. Life goes on, circumstances change, so to have customers be that loyal to one shop, one brand for that long is amazing.

Once I realised how strong the support we were getting was, it was only natural to try to reciprocate by throwing events like our block parties, the 3-on-3 ball tournaments, and donating back to the community. I don’t know if we are trying to convey any messages, more just trying to say thank you for keeping us going over the years.

You’ve also had a big emphasis on being from Surry Hills. What is it that you love about the area?

Yeah, the whole Surry thing is important to us. We got our start here. We eat, drink, and party here and even after we move online we will always rep for the area that got us here. My thing is that instead of walking around in your shirt repping Brooklyn or Tokyo, why not have pride in something local. In Australia, there’s this weird underlying little-brother self-hate thing going on. With the Surry Hills shoutouts we were just trying to get people to have more pride in where they’re from, even if it’s not literally from Surry.

Halfsleeve will continue as its own in-house brand and sold online. Any plans with the brand that you can reveal now?

The brand will live on online, and I hope people still fuck with us from here on in. We will keep up our ranges and now with more time to concentrate on the brand, hopefully we’ll see the brand grow even stronger. We hope to do pop-ups at physical spots every now and then, so we look forward to see the homies come out for those.

How would you like Halfsleeve on Goulburn St to be remembered?

If people remember us as the spot where you could always go to cop good prod, go to just shoot the shit and chill without being pressured, then I think I’ve done my job. I hope to see everyone that was down with us over the years at the last block party tomorrow night. It’d be dope to see everyone on the corner one last time.