Thirroul-based streetwear label Grand Pacific Customs is turning two this December, and to celebrate, their latest collection of coastal-inspired tees has just dropped, with more fresh designs scheduled to launch in the coming months.
The label is not just solely designed and handprinted in the Illawarra, but is made for the people of the Illawarra – the surfies, the skaters, the day-tripping bikers, the creatives – says founder Gideon Rogers.
Grand Pacific Customs motto, “it’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re at”, rings especially true for Welsh-born Gideon who, by day, serves the community as a firefighter. He describes Grand Pacific Customs as a passion project that began with a desire to celebrate the Illawarra region with designs that encapsulate its natural beauty and its community.
Gideon admires all things local, evident not just in the brand’s apparel embellished with the names of Illawarra suburbs and a trade name inspired by our famous Grand Pacific Drive, but in the online support of homegrown musos, local venues and neighbourhood faces, seen on Grand Pacific Customs website and social media accounts.
Ahead of Grand Pacific Customs second birthday next month, Gideon kindly answered our questions about the label’s back story, their most recent collection and why you should stock up for Christmas.
How did Grand Pacific Customs come about, and why did you decide to start a streetwear label with your partner, Gill?
Everyone connected to Grand Pacific [Customs], from the founders, creatives, fans, and friends, all have a similar point of view in common – that the Illawarra is one of the greatest places on earth – not just because of the natural beauty and the amount of surf breaks and great road twisties, but because the community is so creatively productive. The vineyards, the brewers, the chefs, the restaurateurs, the venues, the artists, the events, the happenings, all just getting on with their dreams. It is a microcosm of creative industriousness closer to Seattle or Manchester yet set in this amazing space. It is never boring.
There are a lot of great companies here generating their own streetwear, the artists are awesome, but there wasn’t one approach that galvanised the whole of the region from the city limits to the Sapphire Coast. Byron has a streetwear brand that symbolises their vibe but there wasn’t one for the Illawarra that was inclusive of the moto, surf and skate and creative communities.
The Illawarra is unique because everyone who is here has made the effort to come here and stay here. Even people in Sydney know very little about this hidden gem, and we are totally about where you’re at, not where you’re from.
How big is the team behind the brand?
We are a small group of friends with creative contributors, so on any given day there can be two to four people working on Grand Pacific in and around our day jobs, or when we are off duty. It is a total passion project and that’s why we don’t manufacture in China, as all the big streetwear brands do. We design and create and buy what we need to run the brand here in the Illawarra as much as we can. All our streetwear is handprinted locally.
How has the brand grown and changed since launching two years ago?
We launched at the perfect time to be heavily impacted by the pandemic. The fires before that were tough and we were itching to get back out to enjoy life again after months of haze. It’s been tough for everyone, but we have kept going and it is great to see our streetwear out in the wild. There are even DJs in Europe wearing our new Amped tees, which we are stoked about.
How will you be celebrating Grand Pacific Customs' second birthday?
There are some plans underway and as soon as they are finalised, we will share that on our Instagram stories. Until then we will keep on supporting other events by attending and sharing their great energy. The Wanderer Magazine issue seven launch party in Bellambi in November was awesome. Great collective, great young creatives. Buy a copy from your local cool store.
What items and designs are part of your newest collection?
Updates for this season come from a few fans asking for things. One is the new Address tee, with the first town being our HQ home, Thirroul. We will be adding additional towns across the Illawarra, so we have pre-orders available online. The Amped shirt was one we created for a musician friend but is being snapped up by DJs too, as well as local skaters and surfers.
We refreshed our brand logo after collecting an old 70s surf magazine in a local garage sale and we’ve now got that Endless Summer vibe that is unique to the Pacific. We’ve created a new Grand tee, and a logo tee for that.
We have two more adventurous tees – one is still under wraps as of today – but we have a varsity Illawarra tee with a comment from one of our surf buddies who called out “it’s not Byron” when someone ignored good etiquette in the line-up at Bellambi. We just had to capture that vibe because there is nowhere as cool and as laid-back like the Illawarra.
Can you tell me about your Austinmer shoot for the launch, which featured some local faces and organisations?
The guys on that were great. Local star photographer of gigs and magazines, Lachy Starling, lensed this shoot. The editor of Wanderer Magazine suggested Lachy and it was a no-brainer to have such an aloha soul to work with. We are also connected through his family, which are also in the fire service, and he is based close to our HQ in Thirroul so knows all the local faces who came along. It was a wild afternoon that ended up with our Jeep towing them on skateboards around Austinmer. You could not meet a greater bunch of guys.
Who would your clothing be best suited for?
The biggest fans of our tees are folks looking for something other than mass-market streetwear made in China by the recognisable big Sydney moto brands or the surfy brands up the coast. We also get a lot of orders from people from the Illawarra that now are living elsewhere but still want to represent. We just shipped to Tasmania for someone originally from Wollongong and to Europe for someone from Ulladulla.
To view the Grand Pacific Customs range, visit their website or follow them on Facebook or Instagram
