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Australian menswear has never been short on good clothes. What it has historically lacked, however, is clothing that’s a little bit surprising – something that pushes the boundaries of men’s style. Thankfully, that’s starting to change. Across the country, a new wave of designers is bringing more imagination to the way Australian men dress, from sculptural tailoring and oversized shapes to hand-drawn graphics and expressive knitwear.
This wave of new designers isn’t chasing the same old idea of ‘elevated beach bum’. They’re making menswear much, much more interesting. If you want your wardrobe to be ahead of the curve, these are the Australian menswear labels that need to be on your radar.
Best Australian Menswear Brands at a Glance
Australia’s most interesting menswear right now comes from a new wave of independent labels, from avant-garde Sydney tailoring to Perth-printed tees. These are our picks.
- Best overall: Song for the Mute. The Sydney label is stocked at Dover Street Market and builds every drop around raw edges, custom textiles and fluid shapes.
- Best for everyday basics: Mutimer. Heavy natural fibres, boxy fits and unisex pieces designed to sit outside the seasonal trend cycle.
- Best for summer: Commas. Lightweight linen resortwear, camp-collar shirts and wide trousers made for the Australian heat.
- Best on a budget: Payne Street. Brisbane rugby knits and relaxed shorts at the lowest price point on the list.
- Best for streetwear: Candice. Oversized graphic hoodies and Y2K internet nostalgia out of Melbourne.
Now that you’ve seen our favourites, here is the complete list.
14 Best Australian Menswear Labels Right Now
1. Song for the Mute
Founded in Sydney back in 2010 by lifelong friends Melvin Tanaya and Lyna Ty, Song for the Mute started as a small menswear project before growing into an internationally recognised label stocked at places like Dover Street Market. Ty handles the design side while Tanaya manages the creative direction, treating each single drop like an individual chapter in an ongoing story. Instead of chasing quick trends, the duo focuses heavily on raw edges, custom textiles, and fluid shapes that give each outfit a distinct mood.
Who it’s for: Fashion purists and artful dressers who want high-concept, textured garments that feel more like collector’s items than off-the-rack clothes.
How to wear it: Tuck a boxy white tee into high-waisted, wide-leg pinstripe trousers and throw on low-top retro sneakers, or lean into off-duty style with an oversized textured polo and a slouchy tote.
- Based in: Sydney
- Price: $$$$
2. Strateas Carlucci
Launched in Melbourne by Peter Strateas and Mario-Luca Carlucci, Strateas Carlucci operates as much like a creative studio as it does a fashion brand. The pair works across tailoring, unisex garments, objects, and fragrance, bringing architectural construction and heavy geometric lines into modern menswear. Their focus is on pieces with volume and dramatic cuts, giving basic staples a sharp, slightly off-centre edge.
Who it’s for: Urban minimalist dressers drawn to sharp, architectural cuts, unisex silhouettes, and avant-garde tailoring.
How to wear it: Pair an oversized jacket with wide trousers and solid black boots. If it’s warm, swap the pants for utility shorts.
- Based in: Melbourne
- Price: $$$
3. Commas
Creative Director Richard Jarman launched Commas in Sydney back in 2017, naming the brand after the punctuation mark to represent an intentional pause in everyday life. The label is built specifically around coastal living, and specialises in lightweight linen, camp-collar shirts, crochet pieces crochet and swim shorts. Jarman’s whole shtick is essentially creating resort-style pieces designed for the heat, but that transition easily from the beach straight to a long lunch.
Who it’s for: Modern resortwear enthusiasts who want lightweight, beach-to-bar linen and elevated vacation outfits tailored for the heat.
How to wear it: Camp-collar shirt with wide linen trousers, or button it down over swim shorts post-beach.
- Based in: Sydney
- Price: $$$
4. Joseph & James
Founded in 2021 by Gooreng Gooreng and South Sea Islander designer Juanita Page, Joseph & James has undoubtedly injected variety into the local Australian menswear landscape. Page’s collection reinterprets classic smart-casual staples by playing with altered proportions, cropped lengths, and cleaner cuts. It’s everyday classics with subtle tweaks that give pieces from Joseph & James an interesting yet highly wearable edge.
Who it’s for: Menswear fans who love modern smart-casual style, updated proportions, and altered cuts that subtly refresh classic wardrobes.
How to wear it: Style one of their cropped shirt jackets with high-waisted, wide-leg trousers to shorten your torso and make your legs look longer.
- Based in: Melbourne
- Price: $$$
5. Payne Street
Payne Street might have only been established in 2023, but this Brisbane-based label is certainly making a name for itself. Founded by Cooper Mackie, Payne Street focuses on simple, sport-influenced casualwear built around a nostalgic backyard aesthetic.
The label centres its collection around rugby knits, relaxed shorts, caps, and wide-leg trousers. It’s designed to be a direct alternative to bland basics, delivering options with enough colour and shape to upgrade your casual weekend wardrobe.
Who it’s for: Guys seeking budget-friendly, sports-influenced weekend casualwear with a nostalgic, suburban backyard aesthetic.
How to wear it: Tuck a boxy rugby polo into tailored, relaxed-fit pants to elevate a casual weekend look.
- Based in: Brisbane
- Price: $
6. Mutimer
Founder Jasper Mutimer started this Aussie label in 2020 as a creative side project while finishing a finance degree. Instead of taking a corporate job after graduating, he went all-in on fashion, building the Melbourne label around a concept he calls “Future Nostalgia” – designing unisex pieces meant to sit outside the seasonal trend cycle. Working out of his flagship store in Collingwood, the focus is strictly on heavy natural fibres, boxy fits, and pieces that get better with age.
Who it’s for: Streetwear fans after boxy, heavy-cotton basics, clean lines, and timeless unisex pieces that skip short-lived trends.
How to wear it: Use their boxy, heavy tees as your daily baseline under overshirts, cardigans, or tailored jackets.
- Based in: Melbourne
- Price: $$
7. Candice
Candice officially launched in Melbourne in 2019 by designer Nick Campbell alongside co-designers Bronte Cooper and Charlie Barton. Rooted in internet nostalgia, the genderless streetwear label takes inspiration from early desktop graphics, message boards, and late-90s digital culture. With sticker-style prints, two-way zip hoodies, and oversized scarves, Candice is an incredibly cool street style label for fashion-forward Aussie men.
Who it’s for: Trend-focused streetwear dressers who love Y2K digital nostalgia, statement graphics, and playful genderless layering.
How to wear it: Throw an oversized graphic hoodie or big scarf over dark denim to break up a plain outfit.
Related read: How to Wear a Graphic Tee Without Looking Like a Teenager
- Based in: Melbourne
- Price: $$
8. Oil Clothing
Oliver McDonald started Oil Clothing in Perth back in 2012, transforming a bedroom screen-printing project into one of the coolest graphic-led streetwear brands. Over a decade later, McDonald still hand-draws every graphic and uses the same original secondhand printing jig to screen-print the brand’s tees in-house. That hands-on process gives their graphic T-shirts and heavy fleece a character that mass-produced street brands simply can’t match.
Who it’s for: Casual dressers looking for independent, hand-printed graphic tees with an authentic workwear character over mass-produced streetwear.
How to wear it: Wear a hand-printed tee under an open workwear jacket or paired with vintage-wash denim and classic sneakers.
- Based in: Perth
- Price: $$
9. La Corsia
Brisbane-based La Corsia takes its name from the street of founder Samuel Atherton’s very first share-house, “The Lane.” The brand is a mix between relaxed coastal streetwear and European leisure, built around an unofficial motto: “from beach to bar.” The lineup mixes relaxed shapes with Euro summer colours, with pieces like lightweight windbreakers, fisherman knits, loose button-downs, polo-jerseys and trousers made for comfort and style.
Who it’s for: Men wanting Euro-summer-inspired leisurewear, relaxed knit polos, and breezy, coast-ready tailored shorts.
How to wear it: Pair their pleated shorts with a short-sleeve button-down and leather slides or loafers.
- Based in: Brisbane
- Price: $$
10. Charlton
Launched in 2018 by creative Henry Cousins, Charlton is where Australian design meets high-end Japanese textile craft, with everything being designed in Australia and made by a small artisan team in northern Japan. Charlton skips mass production and fast trends to focus on Japanese textiles that will last you years if you look after them well. It’s built for fashion-forward men who care about both craftsmanship and good design.
Who it’s for: Quality-obsessed guys who value high-end Japanese textile craft, artisan construction, and classic camp-collar shirts.
How to wear it: Pair an open-collar, boxy short-sleeve shirt with tailored shorts or wide-leg trousers.
- Based in: Melbourne
- Price: $$$
11. Five by Flynn
What started as a minimal five-shirt run has evolved into one of Australia’s most reliable sources for elevated weekend wear. Resort shirts remain the hero: cut loose through the body, dropped at the shoulders, and designed to be worn open over a tank or done up with wide linen pants. The aesthetic leans heavily into retro nostalgia, featuring vintage cabana stripes, textured knits, and denim that transitions easily between pub lunches and dinner dates.
Who it’s for: Weekend dressers after relaxed retro resort shirts, vintage cabana stripes, and easy pub-to-dinner fits.
How to wear it: Pair an open printed shirt with a crisp white singlet, relaxed trousers, and low-profile sneakers.
- Based in: Sydney
- Price: $$
12. Earls Collection
Founded by former NRL player Lewi Brown, Earls Collection takes nostalgic sporting references and strips them of any cheap gimmickry. The Sydney label is traditional sportswear meets modern tailoring, with key pieces like plush mohair cardigans, bold jacquard knits, and wide-cut trousers that nod to retro team uniforms. It’s personality-heavy dressing for the true stylish gentleman.
Who it’s for: Stylish dressers drawn to elevated sports-heritage knits, plush cardigans, and tailored athletic-inspired pieces.
How to wear it: Throw a heavy embroidered cardigan over a plain tee and wide-leg trousers, finished with leather loafers or retro sneakers.
- Based in: Sydney
- Price: $$$
13. Sweats Collective
Founded on the Gold Coast by Jake Wilson, Sweats Collective has mastered the art of low-effort, high-reward dressing. While the name suggests basic loungewear, the range expands into smart-casual territory with structured pleated shorts, heavyweight boxy tees, and wide-leg denim alongside their signature plush hoodies. It’s essentially an elevated take on modern streetwear, with clean neutrals and targeted pops of colour for men who want maximum comfort without looking underdressed.
Who it’s for: Streetwear fans wanting structured loungewear, double-knee work pants, and heavy-duty boxy hoodies.
How to wear it: Swap standard sweat shorts for their tailored pleated shorts, paired with an oversized blank tee and clean white sneakers.
- Based in: Gold Coast
- Price: $$
14. Bassike (Sydney)
A cornerstone of modern Australian style since 2006, Bassike built its reputation on executing everyday basics flawlessly. Operating out of Sydney with a strong commitment to local manufacturing, the label delivers boxy T-shirts, slouchy pants, and understated layers. You won’t find any logos or gimmicky trends here – just immaculate cuts and premium weight.
Who it’s for: Everyday dressers who prioritize high-quality organic cotton tees, relaxed drawcord pants, and locally made Sydney wardrobe foundations.
How to wear it: Start with a boxy tee tucked loosely into relaxed drawcord trousers, anchored by leather sandals.
- Based in: Sydney
- Price: $$$
How We Chose This List of Australian Menswear Brands
Every label here is Australian-founded and still designed here, and we deliberately weighted the list toward the newer wave: brands launched in the last fifteen years that are pushing men’s style somewhere new, rather than the heritage names most readers already know.
For each brand we looked at the current range on its own site and at stockists, and weighed four things: a clear design point of view, fabric and construction, price against what you get, and how easy the clothes are to actually buy. The price bands, locations and featured pieces were checked in September 2026. Not every piece has been worn by our team, so this list reflects the best evidence we had at the time of writing, and we update it as labels launch, close or change direction.
Ally Burnie is Man of Many’s resident Melbourne writer, covering style, food and drink, and the city’s op-shop and vintage scene. This list was reviewed and edited by the Man of Many editorial team before publishing.
A Short History of Australian Menswear
Australian menswear was built on the land before it was built on the runway. Merino sheep arrived with John and Elizabeth Macarthur in 1797, and the wool clip that followed made Australia the source of most of the world’s fine apparel wool, a position it still holds through The Woolmark Company. The first great Australian menswear brands were made for work: Akubra’s fur-felt hats trace back to Benjamin Dunkerley’s arrival in Tasmania in 1874, Driza-Bone’s oilskin riding coats date to 1898, and R.M. Williams started making stockmen’s boots in Adelaide in 1932.
The next wave came from the cities. George Bond began knitting hosiery and underwear in Sydney in 1915, and the Chesty Bond cartoon that followed in 1938 turned a singlet into a national symbol. Alexander MacRae’s Sydney knitting mills produced the first Speedo swimwear in the 1920s, and Fletcher Jones built a trousers empire from Warrnambool that dressed Australian men for half a century. Between them they set a template that lasted for decades: well-made, unfussy, practical clothes with very little interest in fashion for its own sake.
Surf culture broke that template in the 1970s and 1980s. Rip Curl and Quiksilver came out of Torquay in 1969, Billabong out of the Gold Coast in 1973, and Mambo brought Sydney’s loud, art-led take on beachwear in 1984. Country Road, founded in Melbourne in 1974, gave Australian men their first homegrown lifestyle label, and by the 1990s the country had its own fashion week, launched in Sydney in 1996, and a generation of designers, from Ksubi’s denim in the early 2000s to Bassike’s organic-cotton basics from 2006, who proved Australian labels could sell on design as much as on function.
The labels on this list are the latest chapter. Where Australian menswear once meant surf, workwear or the ‘elevated beach bum’, labels like Song for the Mute and Strateas Carlucci are now stocked and shown in London, Tokyo and Paris on the strength of their tailoring, textiles and ideas. The fabric and the honesty are still Australian. The ambition is new.
Best Australian Menswear Brands Compared
| Brand | Location | Key Aesthetic / Vibe | Price Range |
| Song for the Mute | Sydney | Avant-garde tailoring & raw, tactile textures | $$$$ |
| Strateas Carlucci | Melbourne | Architectural cuts & geometric unisex shapes | $$$ |
| Commas | Sydney | Elevated resortwear & lightweight beach-to-bar linen | $$$ |
| Joseph & James | Melbourne | Reinterpreted smart-casual with cropped proportions | $$$ |
| Payne Street | Brisbane | Nostalgic, sport-influenced casualwear & rugby knits | $ |
| Mutimer | Melbourne | “Future Nostalgia” unisex basics & boxy silhouettes | $$ |
| Candice | Melbourne | Graphic Y2K streetwear & digital internet nostalgia | $$ |
| Oil Clothing | Perth | Hand-printed, graphic-led independent streetwear | $$ |
| La Corsia | Brisbane | Euro-leisure meets relaxed coastal streetwear | $$ |
| Charlton | Melbourne | High-end Japanese fabric craftsmanship & camp shirts | $$$ |
| Five by Flynn | Sydney | Vintage cabana stripes & elevated retro weekend wear | $$ |
| Earls Collection | Sydney | Tailored heritage sportswear & plush knitwear | $$$ |
| Sweats Collective | Gold Coast | Structured lounge-to-streetwear & heavyweight basics | $$ |
| Bassike | Sydney | Premium, Australian-made organic cotton basics | $$$ |
Australian Menswear FAQs
Go straight to Mutimer or Payne Street. Mutimer gives you heavy cottons and boxy tees, while Payne Street offers simple, collegiate-inspired weekend gear.
All of these brands have some great summer pieces, but we specifically love Commas or La Corsia for summer. They’ve mastered lightweight linen, sheer camp-collar shirts, and pleated trousers that are breathable in the Aussie heat.
Start with your bottom half. Swap your skinny jeans for a pair of wide-leg trousers from Charlton or Strateas Carlucci, but keep your top half fitted or structured. You can also read our article on how to wear and style relaxed-fit clothes.
Related reads:
- Smart Casual Men’s Dress Code Guide
- 10 Best Blouson Jackets for Men: The Most Underrated Office Workwear Layer
- The New Rules of Office Dressing (for Men Who Work Everywhere and Nowhere)
- How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: 10 Pieces Every Man Needs
- The Best Men’s Chinos for Work and Weekend
- How to Wear Colour: A Beginner’s Guide
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