Gateway Collective

Behind the brand, in print for Pelican Magazine.

In the fashion industry, heritage is not just a concept, but rather, it is an institution that underpins the credibility, legitimacy, stature, and status of a brand beyond just clothes, shoes, and accessories. Having heritage elevates a label to become an entity, a true force to be reckoned with.

This is exemplified by the luxury fashion houses of the world - Balenciaga, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Hermès, Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, and many more. These internationally renowned brands are household names even for those without the slightest interest in the world of fashion.

Gateway Collective, founded by Isaac Baulch and Karl Sauerwein in 2021, is challenging the norms of the fashion industry's landscape - bringing a fresh, minimalistic, and clean-cut streetwear label to compete on the scene with luxury brands, who have in recent years themselves diverted attention to the growing mass of the streetwear scene.

Honoured to spend the afternoon on the set of their shoot for their inaugural clothing drop, I was able to see first hand the artistic vision the pair of high school friends, turned business partners, have for their label.

The concept began thanks to an early romance with sneakers and the streetwear industry on the pair’s international travels. Over the last have decade, Isaac and Karl have immersed themselves in vintage and limited edition flipping circles throughout Australia, and founded Gateway Collective to honour these shared passions and pursuits.

This brand is underpinned by the unique understanding of a long-term friendship, a mutual adoration of football and fashion alike, and years of catch-ups blessed by suburban proximity.

Their first collection - Capsule 1: Elevate - features two kits - colour matched sets of hoodies and shorts in the shades cloud (a pastel blue) and obsidian (ash black).

There's much to be said for the attention to detail these two have put towards each item of clothing and its place in the aesthetics of the brand as a whole.

From the hand-sewn aluminum Gateway tags, un-obstructively featured on the top apex of the hoods, to the clever sizing and care tags, reading "a capsule assimilating time and freedom" the features create a sharp statement for the eye of the beholder.

My personal favourite is the embroidered logo that nods to the cubist and brutalist art and architecture made famous in the 20th century, which in comparison to the alternative of printing, rather than sewing, indicates a sense of timelessness and durability to the pieces and their style.

"For this shoot, we picked a blank, openly-lit warehouse, kept the models natural with neural expressions, and created a space for the pieces, rather than something printed on them, to be this statement of art and fashion."

The garments are all custom cut-and-sew designs by our up-and-coming entrepreneurs, who undertook a year of back and forth dancing with international suppliers, samples of their target audience, and customs officers alike to work out the perfect combination of textures, materials, colours, sizes, and branding to create the pieces we see today.

"Our focus is equally a producer and consumer mindset - we put just as much effort into the clothes and their quality, as we do with the way we shoot and style. We're moving away from brands and labels, not just to create something for a customer, but to create something for ourselves."

The heavyweight, cotton-blend, 450 gsm, thick, and boxy look works to create a collection that feels soft, comfortable, and luxurious, but with its minimalistic designs and balanced color saturation; having the versatility of being equally a 'work from home' fit, and a 'deserves to be seen' fit as well.

'"Our vision was to create a brand that emphasises minimalism, essentialism, and art within the fashion industry - a luxury brand without an astronomical luxury price tag. We wanted a brand that was intentionally simple - not blank, but not loud - something easy to style and worth investing in.”

I look forward to seeing the heritage these boys create for themselves with Gateway Collective in the years to come.

You can check out what the brand is up to here.

Photos by Foxx Creative