Australian menswear spent years as an afterthought, now it feels world-class

For most of the last decade, Australian menswear was ignored by you. Our womenswear went global, the world bought our designers and treated them like a serious export. Meanwhile, guys got tees and business shirts and a vaguely cultural shrug.

You can see it in who won. Brands built on the lowest common denominator of Australian men achieved good numbers, while anything with ambition struggled to attract attention. The industry and The Academy brand came clean because that was the limit we set for ourselves.

I include myself in this. My first suit was Zegna, which makes no sense to a teenager and which my mother never fully explained, and after that it was Caliber, which is where most of us really started, whether we admit it or not.

expansion of intelligence The gateway was medicine. It was the suit your mom bought for you before you knew what a suit was, a safe choice for a man who knew nothing about clothes and wanted to keep it that way. There’s still a trace of it in the brand, and I don’t think it’ll ever shake it off completely.

The difference is that Caliber quietly transformed itself closer to semi-luxury, and the clothes are now beautiful. They were still active in Monaco while the Grand Prix was going on, which is a nice little addition, and even though they only rented a dinghy for the shoot, it still looked like they were part of the festivities.

I know it matters because I’m buying it, which is not a sentence I would have written five years ago.

We asked local stylists Jeff Lack For his opinion on where Australian menswear is at the moment.

“The devastation of casualized tailoring due to COVID has inspired local brands to explore a broader, more relaxed Australian aesthetic,” he says. “Brother Wolf, Best and Handsome all offer casual suiting for those who don’t need a corporate nine-to-five suit. Suit separates, twin sets and relaxed tailoring have recently infiltrated off-duty style, meaning you can’t just go from your usual suspects. Not only that, but we can also buy from a range of suppliers.”

“Australian menswear is in good shape. It’s up to the consumer to explore all there is to offer and move away from the traditional department store.”

mj bell I’ve always only worn suits, which means if you haven’t worn a suit, you’ve never really thought about it, and that was fair enough. Matt Jensen built it on Made-in-Japan tailoring in 2009 and has been quietly perfecting that part.

After tough years, the brand has come back stronger. It now runs nearly eighty stores, posted a 23% rise in net profits last year and surpassed $103 million in sales, and is opening its first UK store on Jermyn Street, a menswear destination as serious as it gets.

The description I like is the Jermyn Street lease. I’m told London rents are cheaper than here, which tells you everything you need to know about Australian retail rents and the state of our economy.

Now what makes the vine worthy of a story is the extension of the branches. The Alpine-Active ski collection, made from regenerative New Zealand merino and tailored in Italy, is a move that creates a confident brand, and Japanese suiting is still as good as it ever was.

Then there’s Joe Faraz, or Diamond Joe as I like to call him. They have built one of the most premium menswear and womenswear brands in the country, and suiting is the heart of it.

It’s made locally, it’s beautifully cut, and the campaigns are good too. Established in 1998 and still family owned by his wife Katy. Faraz This type of polish never reaches most local brands.

She also did something that almost no one does anymore, which is show at Australian Fashion Week. A menswear brand on the runway in 2026 is almost unheard of, and Faraj has run it for two years now.

All three of them are carrying it, but they’re not alone. Venroy has been excellent for years, and I love what they do for resort wear. I wouldn’t buy suits there, but the aesthetic is flawless and they totally own the eastern-suburbs off-duty look.

P.Johnson This also deserves its own mention. Patrick and Tom have been leading the charge for the past two decades, the ready-to-wear is excellent, the suits are excellent and the showrooms, overseen by Patrick’s wife Tamsin, are part of the appeal.

Half of what P.Johnson makes goes to every lousy real estate agent in Sydney, but it works and they love it. You look at what Patrick has created with that combination, and it’s hard to hate him.

Beneath all that sits a layer of smaller brands that are nipping at their heels, picking up steam, getting the cut and the fabric and the story right in a way that Australian menswear had no trouble with a decade ago. This is the part you should pay attention to.

There were some serious years, and many reasons not to celebrate Australian menswear. We are not there now.

In 2026 the category has changed, the clothes are cool, the ambition is back, and the brands carrying it are doing it on their own terms. It’s time for Australian men to take dressing very seriously.