urban walkabout sydney shopping

Behind the Label:
FARAGE

by Michelle Hespe

It all began with a dynamic duo and the creation of a quality Egyptian cotton shirt, and now it’s a renowned Australian fashion label with five retail stores, a boutique factory in Sydney and over 50 staff beneath its sassy belt.

It all began with a dynamic duo and the creation of a quality Egyptian cotton shirt, and now it’s a renowned Australian fashion label with five retail stores, a boutique factory in Sydney and over 50 staff beneath its sassy belt.

Right from the beginning when they were fresh-faced fashion school graduates, quality and sophistication was the name of the game for Joe and Katy Farage. But Farage is not just about sophist acted tailored wear. Its shaken off the old fashioned notion of tailored clothing and given the genre a youthful bent that attracts men and women who can pull off funky corporate wear and glamorous, streamlined casual wear. “We’re all about structured lines and quality fabrics, but Farage appeals to sophisticated youth - the 25-40 age bracket,” says Katy.

Katy and Joe have come a long way since the inception of Farage and the opening of their first store in 1998 in Sydney’s Strand Arcade. “We were young and naïve I guess but we also both knew that we wanted to set up our own label,” Katy muses. “I’d just finished fashion school and was in my early twenties and Joe was 19. We just went straight for it and opened a retail store in The Strand. We might have been young but we knew that location was really important and The Strand has always been known for having lots of young Australian designers. We just started from there, opening a store for men’s clothing and then women’s store followed, then the other four stores came after that.”

Ten years since that first store, Farage remains dedicated to quality tailoring and is now branching out into other Australian states with Europe and the states on the horizon. And the duo are so intent on keeping everything Farage beneath their watchful eyes that they have taken manufacturing into their own hands and rather than opting for offshore production they now have their own boutique factory in Surry Hills, Sydney. “Today this is supplemented by the support of third party production businesses located in Sydney producing our suiting whilst our own production facility produces all our shirting,” the couple explain.

Joe and Katy’s extensive travel has enabled the business to develop shoe, tie and cufflink lines among other products working with the best manufacturers in Europe. The strength of the Farage reputation has also resulted in premium international labels such as Paul Smith and Dolce & Gabbana allowing them to retail their product lines in our stores.

So the question is, does the pair feel as though they’ve reached the point of success that all designers crave? “We’ve reached a point where we are really proud and happy with what we’ve accomplished, but we also believe that we can always do better, so we also continually aim for higher things. We have so much more to do,” Katy says.