Ever walked down Chapel street and asked yourself “where the hell can I find a plain T-shirt?” Well Tristan Barlow did. Plane is a high concept boutique, one of Melbourne's original provocateurs of the unisex look and we here at Melbourne Street Fashion.com just had to find out what makes them tick. Follow the jump and you can do the same.
MSF.com: So why plain?
Plane: Well essentially it was to have a
choice of different brands in plain clothes. In most shops they have
one selection of plain stuff, here obviously you can choose between
different plain clothes. If the fit isn't right you can try a different
brand and see if it's better.T-shirts, hoodies stuff like that.
MSF.com: So how long have you been here?
Plane: It's going to be a year in a month, probably have a one year anniversary party, definitely have a one year anniversary sale.
MSF.com: So what sets your store apart from other stores?
Plane: Well everything is plain. There's definitely no big brands or over complicated clothing. And there's the choice, if something doesn't fit right you can find another brand of a black t-shirt that would fit. So there's variety in choice.
MSF.com: Do you design any of the stock?
Plane: A little bit and there's going to be more of it. Now that I've established the store I want to focus more on designing my own stuff.
MSF.com: What other brands do you have?
Plane: One of the major ones is what you might call a re-brand, or stock people have printed on, it's a label called Continental. We also have Huffa which is a kiwi label, American Apparel, but we're pulling away from them at the moment, Minty Mieets Munt, which is a Sydney label, 429 which is a New York label, Two Blocks South which is a denim label from Melbourne. We have lot of plane hats, caps and then of course shoes like Converse, Dunlop and lots of slip-ons, Melissa and there's a lot more coming and Alternative Apparel which I'm really looking forward to.
MSF.com: Since you've been here have you seen any changes in customer tastes?
Plane: Well the slip on shoe thing is a big craze, I think it will go through this summer and into next winter, but after that it might die out.
MSF.com: So what was the moment that made you decide to start your shop?
Plane: Well it was out of frustration really! I'd walk up and down Chapel, because I live down here, and I'd be like “where do I go for a plain t-shirt?” You go to bonds, you go to TSL and that's about it. So I thought there was a opening in the market
MSF.com: Do you focus more on menswear?
Plane: I shouldn't, but I do. But I like unisex clothes and that was important to my original concept, simple unisex stuff.
MSF.com: Whats the funniest thing that's happened in the store?
Plane: I don't know, we do call the place PCP on Fridays, Plane Clothes pub, because from 4 on Fridays we just drink. We do get a few celebrities and B grade celebrities in here, actors and footy players, fair few actually. There's actually an agent upstairs, so I guess that's why.
For all your plain needs head to Plane, 143 Chapel Street Windsor.
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