Words by Christopher Kevin Au
Having been a goth who listened to ‘Angel Of Death‘ everyday for the best part of a decade, my wardrobe still largely consists of black clothing – even after I sold out to the #EDM lifestyle and attended Stereosonic for five years in a row.
Still, I make a few exceptions for colour during scorching summer days, and more often than not it’s something from the Sydney Romantics range. If the name didn’t make it clear enough, Sydney Romantics are all about their hometown – and they use clothes to open a gateway into what the 2000 has to offer. Moreover, they offer a positive outlook rarely seen in streetwear, and one that comes across as refreshingly genuine.
Sydney Romantics have already produced some iconic designs in their short history, and they’ve also recently set up headquarters in Surry Hills alongside staple boutique Halfsleeve. We chatted to Ricky from Sydney Romantics about the history of the brand, the state of Sydney style and working with fellow creatives like Sampa The Great. Get an insight into their world below:
How and when did Sydney Romantics start? Some of the brains behind the brand worked at Australian heavyweights like Ksubi and Insight – how did these backgrounds influence the approach to the brand?
Ryan and Jodia both cut their teeth working for some of the biggest businesses in Australian fashion. Jodia has worked as a graphic designer, Art & Creative director for companies like Ksubi, Insight 51 and Deus Ex Machina. Ryan as a designer, buyer and product developer for Glue and Incu. First time business owners but definitely spent time mastering their craft.
James and I come from non-fashion backgrounds – James is now the head of Urban Music at WME and represents artists such as Macklemore, ASAP Rocky, Joey Badass and Bryson Tiller. Side note: James is the first and last person to book A Tribe Called Quest in Sydney. I come from a tourism background having spent 5 years as cabin crew with Emirates before taking several different roles with start-ups in Indonesia.
We are all very different from each other, especially James – he’s white but Asian on the inside. We have always shared a common love for music, clothing and basketball. We spent much of our twenties traveling across the globe in pursuit of our dream careers. A lot of traveling. Once we had gotten wind of the world, our appreciation for home really began to become clear to us and we wanted to create something that people from home could wear with pride when traveling overseas. This idea grew into a logo and the name Sydney Romantics. Each of us probably have different stories but since I’m the one writing it now, they’re gonna just have to deal.
Our idea was to produce lightweight, comfortable, everyday clothing with personality. We marry artwork with silhouettes and fabrics suitable for people constantly on the move: Travelers, doers, makers, urban people with a sense of adventure. We make clothes that help to bring the worlds of city life and outdoor or active life closer together.
What we believe as a brand is that to truly master something takes time, and that to master something you really have to be willing to sacrifice in pursuit of what you love. This to us is what a Romantic is. We also wanted to be a brand with a sustainable mindset – sustainable meaning the long game. We want to create products that don’t require replacing because of poor design, poor workmanship or changing trends. We’re invested in producing at home because it means that the people who are working along side us are also helping us to get better at what we do.
I first saw your garments worn by Wiz Khalifa onstage at Field Day back in 2014. How did that come about?
Jodia had come up with an idea to create an imaginary sports team called the Sydney Romantics and design a sports uniform that our closest friends could wear. Squad Goals.
At the time I had just heard of this small apparel company out of Seattle that were making bespoke vintage-inspired baseball kits. They turned out to be Ebbets Fields. We produced a jacket, baseball jersey and hat for 100 or so of our friends.
Not long after we had produced them, James was in town with Wiz for Field Day. James always hooks us up with passes for his shows and brought Ryan, Jodia and a friend of ours Sampow backstage. Wiz saw either Ryan or Jodia wearing it and asked where he could get one. Ryan gave him his one and he wore it onstage. I think that’s when Ryan and Jodia decided to quit their full-time jobs and make Romantics happen.
You guys are obviously big on representing Sydney with everything you do. How do you think streetwear in Sydney has changed over the years, especially in comparison to other cities like Melbourne?
When we talk about Sydney – we’re not trying to say our city is better than yours or whatever. As a brand we’d like to think that what we produce whether it’s artwork, content or product is something that highlights some of the things we appreciate & love most about our city. We think that by sharing these things, we can continue to connect with different people who value similar things. Sydney Romantics to us just means from our home with love. It’s about feeling accepted amongst a community of like-minded people and using that feeling to fuel the work we’re most passionate about.
Streetwear in Sydney has definitely changed, and its an interesting indication of how our city is changing creatively. I’ve never lived in Melbourne so it’s hard for me to compare, but I feel that Sydney has become much more accessible to the rest of the world. The internet of things, the AirBnBs, Ubers and Jetstars have made Sydney feel much less distant from the rest of the world and it’s resulted in so many new types of people coming and going from our city. This brings with it a whole new set of ideas and ways of doing things. Food, fashion, music, transport, film and media have all felt the effects of these changes. People on the move change things.
Sometimes it feels like Sydney also has a lot of style hubs sitting within itself – the Western Suburbs look seems to have been popping off in recent years. Do you notice any different movements within Sydney city when it comes to style?
Sydney has always had these pockets of culture and creativity. One of the things we try to shine a light on are the ones we feel may go a little unnoticed. We name pieces of our collections after streets or suburbs of Sydney to draw your attention to them, but only you can make yourself look. Places like Newtown and Bondi have always had an eclectic mix of people, but we see the huge mix of youth out west who are beginning to blend their family’s traditional culture with contemporary ways of doing things. I think it’s rare for youth these days to be just into one thing. The kids we’re seeing have different groups of friends and blend into many subgroups or subcultures and consume so many different kinds of media. How do you even begin to define what they’re into when there’s a niche for everything?
Kids out West have always had their own flavour. Very few kids who come from working class families have the funds to go out and buy Polo, Supreme, Yeezy or whatever is popping right now, so they improvise. Working with what you have – improvising – to us is the cornerstone of real flavour.
Sydney Romantics has always been a very positive brand that’s backed it up aesthetically with a lot of colour, bright patterns and the ilk. Do you ever feel like streetwear focuses too hard on a tough guy image?
There’s nothing more gangsta than love.
“Love is a pocket watch, solid gold,
Always runs a little late
Kinda cold,
Love will have you stranded on the corner,
In the rain,
That’s what happens when the hunter’s captured
By the game (gangsta)”
Love is a Gangsta – Teena Marie
As Sydneysiders, what are your five essential spots that every visitor has to hit on a trip here?
Eat: Kaffir Lime in Cabbramatta. Go see our friends Jay and Sue. The General Supply Co in Dulwich Hill – Tell Josh and Dave we sent you. The Tuckshop in Glenhaven – amazing in the middle of North-West Sydney.
Cool place to make out/Roll a doobie/Make out: Balls Head Reserve Waverton. The name already wins. Close to the city yet quiet enough for you to PDA without offending Mike Baird’s church friends.
Swim: Camp Cove is probably our favourite summer spot. Recommended you Uber, don’t drive as parking is a hoe.
Music: Dream Big Studio’s Alexandria. Home of B Wise, Miracle, Dopamine, Manu Crooks, DJ Ziggy, Anfa Rose and Iamsolo. This studio is one of the most creative places I know in the city.
Basketball: KGV at The Rocks. Probably still my favourite court in Sydney, unless you want to play at Kevin Betts in Mt Druitt.
The cultural landscape of Sydney has changed a lot over the past few years – aspects relating to youth culture especially have been heavily damaged. How do you think that the city can keep creative, inspirational and thriving?
I think there comes a point where we need to stop expecting this government to give a shit. Our government on both sides is full of dinasours and probably don’t even Uber. The fact that the future of our youth is in the hands of a system that is extremely slow at adapting to the immediate changes in our lives – yet alone our future needs – is alarming to us.
We think that first of all we need to look through the lens of possibility, like really look. What is possible when people with resources and people with valuable ideas collaborate and are there strategic or economical ways to achieve? Rather than complain about a lack of funds, how about we (the older jaded and tired creatives) start to think of ways that we’re currently under-utilising our resources and figure out ways we can put these resources we already have to better use. If the next huge start-up founder is somewhere amongst these next generation of kids, what will it take to help them achieve their goals? As seasoned creatives, let’s collectively try and find ways to provide those resources for them.
An ongoing problem that we are passionate about changing is that the public school system teaches our kids to be robots. We don’t push the value of creative thinking far enough in our schools. We think that if more people who own businesses contribute to the education of future generations – whether it be through mentorship, educational programs or sponsorship – we may actually be able to build businesses that add real value to our communities beyond offering products or services. We remember being young kids growing up in poor Western Sydney Schools. More than any funding a school got, having someone influential or knowledgable come to your school and acknowledge your talent went such a long way. It can be the difference between a kid pursuing his or her dream and ending up in a dead-end job.
We think this is a really wise way to invest our time. They say that good help is hard to find, but not if you’ve had a hand in nurturing it.
You guys continue to support fellow Sydneysiders like Sampa The Great. What do you like about her and what do you think she is bringing to Australian hip-hop?
We always show love to people from our city, but we love to support the up and comer, no matter where they’re from. Sampa is definitely a citizen of the world.
When we met Sampa she was still really shy about her talent. What captivated us most about her was her honesty and intellect. She is amazingly self aware for someone her age and I think you really begin to understand that when you listen to her lyrics. Once she realised that her talent was the way to put her intelligence to good use, she became ‘The Great.’ Apart from that she’s an everyday person, she’s honestly one of the happiest people to be around.
What is she bringing to hip-hop period? We live in a globally connected world and hip-hop culture touches youth in every corner of it. Sampa offers her own point of view, and her views are universal. She speaks honestly from the heart and she risks it all in the pursuit of what she has dreamed of being all her life – an artist. Against the advice of her parents who were worried their daughter wouldn’t make a living, against the advise of industry professionals who say she can’t make it as an independent artist. She’s doing it.
‘You are what you love’ is our company mantra. Sampa leads by example.
You guys recently moved into a new space with Surry Hills boutique Halfsleeve. How has that change of environment been?
Teik is the homie. Along with O’connel Street Merchants, Capsule and Footage, Halfsleeve have been supporting us from the get go.
Surry put us amongst the cool kids. Let’s face it, Surry kids think they the coolest! It enabled us to talk to people beyond the usual surface conversations though. The people who came into our store and had a conversation with us gave us some really amazing insights into what youth are feeling right now. It’s been an educational experience that has pushed us to get better.
We’ve made a lot of friends that we didn’t expect to make. No one expected two polar opposite brands like Geedup and Romantics to have anything in common, but we’ve learned as much from them as they have from us. Our creative differences actually made us stronger collectively. We ended up collaborating on two workshops for Liverpool Girls High and Doonside Technology High which we really enjoyed doing.
You will be relaunching a new website in October. What can we expect from Sydney Romantics then and for the upcoming summer season?
October if all goes to plan, but if we’re running on Indonesian and Filipino time, then Early November. So expect it in mid November. Maybe new year. We’ll let you know. So subscribe to our newsletter! We want to try and be a little more informative – provide information that we think people might actually value, while keeping things light-hearted and fun.
One thing we really want to do is show you is how our products are made and the amazing people here in Sydney that bring our designs to life. By doing this we hope to show that the term ‘Australian Made’ to us refers not to the place where the factory is but the actual people that make our products. Another thing is that we want to show that there is much more to our city than meets the eye. From the people that you can meet to places of interest. We’d like to show you the Romantics experience in Sydney.
We’ll also share some of the things we’re up to with the support of Red Bull and Sampa The Great, including a special collaboration piece that will be featured at 30 Days in LA Festival this November.
Shout outs:
The first lady of Romantics, Sheila, who feeds us and puts up with us overworking her husband, who tirelessly supports us and turns a blind eye to our shitiness sometimes. New Laundry & Chungtin for all your tireless work. You made Romantics possible. Priit Siimon, who has been our photographer and loyalest supporter since day one. Everyone who has bought from us, who wears our clothing, who has come in for a chat, who like our Instagram posts – thank you for allowing us to pursue this creative dream.
