This week at Niamh Galea I learn some aussie rag trade lore... My path

This morning at 9:25am I went to the family run factory where 80% of our garments are made and picked up the final missing pieces from SS26 drop 2. Drop 2 consists of the following pieces:

the office bow dress (seen above on Faye in fawn)
the puff shorts
the bloomers
the party pantyhose
the sleepy boxers in lolly stripe
the drop crotch long johns

I truly love manufacturing in Sydney and having such close connection with the people who make the garments. Also, Jack & Neda have been in the Australian fashion industry forever and I love hearing stories about the rag trade in Sydney over the past 40 years. I had a strange experience yesterday that felt kind of "fatey"... I walked past the same lady in the cutest military mini dress twice in one day and the third time I walked past her (after dinner with my mum and sister at Caravin in Potts Point) we both said hi, and laughed about bumping into each other 3 times in one day. She asked me "who are you?" and I said "my name's Niamh" and she said "I'm Nicky". It wasn't till we walked away that my sis said to me; "was that Nicky Zimmerman?". Turns out the first ever Zimmerman store was in either my shop or the shop next door in 1993. Like me Nicky & her sister Simone worked in the shop when they were starting out and Nicky says this about the experience;

"Something you learn very early on is that people are parting with their money for something you have made. So it had better be good. It’s very important that they are buying something made with care and love and patience. We still talk about that every day – will they love it? Will they keep it for a long time? Is it worth it? We never take that lightly.”

I absolutely agree. They actually have a very cool story of going from a Paddington market stall to ostensibly the biggest Australian brand in the world. Jack had a story for me too; "oh yeah we used to make all of their clothes in the early days... we even bought her engagement ring for her on a trip home to Iran, she told us exactly what she was looking for and we picked it up."

The Australian fashion industry is small and special and whilst I am less idealistic about producing EVERYTHING here; (it simply isn't feasible either economically -for you or for me-or in terms of the possible scope of production capabilities we have available onshore)the fact we are able to make so many things here makes me feel really blessed.

Constant muse Amber Levido wearing the office bow dress in bubblegum & the pink party pantyhose: this was a fitting for the show but we ended up putting her in the pantyhose with the multiway bikini and the peignoir in aqua (which will be arriving in early March as part of drop 3). The office bow dress is intentionally oversized sort of "dressing up as mummy" core.

I'm thinking a lot about styling this week: I was obsessed with these looks from regular Zac & his boyfy. Who came in to try some of the new collection. The fluoro cast/ baby pink hoodie + shoes really sent me.

Speaking of styling; my intern Paige came up with this GENIUS new way of wearing the multiway bikini no one has thought of before: twist the main piece to create a 2 tone bikini top that is super supportive and makes the most of the reversibility.

I picked up the wet bloomers in fairy bread; printed and made using dead stock fabric in Sydney. Originally the bloomers were only going to be produced this season in this pink sheer, however we got a special request from our new Tokyo stockist the four eyed to make some more black taffeta bloomers so these have now been restocked as well. They will be getting theres in early March in line with northern hemisphere Spring/ Summer.

This morning I also picked up the puff shorts which are just looking so beautiful! We made a pretty limited amount to start with; when it comes to new styles I always like to err on the side of caution so as not to overproduce but I feel these ones will be a hit. Preorders are being shipped out as you read this.

The puff shorts are hyper local as well: the "lolly stripe" fabric is a dead stock roll of pebble georgette from the 80s found in the very back corner of Greenfields which I then had custom printed with the stripe design at Sydney printer Sublitech. They are lined in a lovely pink cotton voile also from Greenfields. The "flower" variety was a very fun find from Reverse Garbage in Marrickville; its a vintage (1950s'/1960s') nylon tricot bonded lace also lined in a lovely apricot cotton voile from greenfields. I'm super proud of this piece and excited to start seeing you trying it on in the shop.