We chatted with Jase and Ash, the creatives behind our fave resort wear.
We chatted with Jase and Ash, the creatives behind our fave resort wear.
Last week, a few Inside Gold Coast team members expressed their love for a fantastic shirt they’d stumbled upon. Sporting the catchy slogan “This Senorita needs a Margarita,” the apparel struck a chord. Upon learning this fabulous creation was the brainchild of Gold Coast locals, we wasted no time reaching out for an interview. Welcome to the vibrant world of Sabbi Clothing, where Jase and Ash blend art, fashion, and a dash of their quirky personalities. Read on to learn about the masterminds of the covetable brand and how the Gold Coast lifestyle heavily influences Sabbi, translating into versatile, fun, and beach-to-bar wearable art.
How long have you been Gold Coast locals?
Jase is a vintage Gold Coast boy and has been here for 30 years. Ash moved over from Perth about 12 years ago, the weather was too hard to resist.
What do you love the most about the Gold Coast?
Jase loves the surf and the laid-back lifestyle. Also, that he can wear Crocs all year round and for every occasion. He’s a water boy so anything on the water is up his alley.
Ash: I love the weather. I’m an early riser, so love that it’s so light so early in the mornings in summer. I also love that you never have to get too dressed up fancy to go anywhere.
Tell us a little bit about yourselves.
Jase has been in fashion since he was a kid. He was born into fashion working for his Dad from age 15. He’s worked all over the world as a buyer. He lived in China for 5 years, 2 of which were spent sleeping on fabric rolls while he and his best friend Billy set up their own factory. He has many crazy stories from those years, one involving a street poo and using his socks as toilet paper. Jase is so laid-back he is horizontal. He lives in Crocs and is big believer in Karma.
Ash: I have nothing exciting to tell you professionally, I studied design and textiles when I graduated school. I designed school uniforms for 3 years where I spent my days looking at polo shirts and check shirts day in and day out. Then I left work to travel Australia in a van for 6 months, moved to the Goldie, then pumped out a set of (VERY unexpected) twins. I’ve always been drawn to anything creative, dodgy dance floors and dogs. Having twins taught me that if you can’t laugh at yourself, then you won’t make it out alive. It also taught me that those Huggies ads were a big fat lie!
What inspired you to start Sabbi?
Jase left a brand he and his family started 10 years ago and took 6 months off to paint. Jase can’t sit still so after 6 months at home we decided to combine our love of fashion and art into one crazy little brand. Fashion seems to be so serious so we wanted to bring some fun back to fashion. We wanted to make clothes that we wanted to wear with a side of our crazy personalities added.
Tell us about the process of creating your unique prints.
Jase finds a theme or a sketch or a colourway. Ash then finds a saying to match. Something funny or positive and then we both work out a print that we think works.
Sometimes this can take half an hour or sometimes Jase (drives Ash crazy) and will spend 3 weeks finetuning one print.
What sets Sabbi apart from other fashion brands?
We guess maybe our artwork. It’s all hand painted on the Gold Coast by us. We don’t buy our prints in. We then oversee the whole process from design to shipping the orders to our customers.
We’d also say maybe showing the craziness that goes on behind the scenes. We both have other jobs, we have 7 year old twins half the time and throw in two dogs, all living under one roof…the roof also happens to be our warehouse.
Sometimes I look around the house and see the twins eating breakfast at the island table next to a HUGE pile of Sabbi returns on the table, boxes of Sabbi stock stacked up around the TV and it sets off my anxiety. Jase just says, “it’s all part of the journey, baby”.
How would you describe the Sabbi community, and what kind of person do you envision wearing your designs?
The Sabbi community are bloody legends! The support we have received is just mind-blowing. We can’t believe that all these people are cheering for two absolute bogans from Palmy. It still blows our minds that so many people are wearing our clothes when we have only just kicked it off.
The kind of people wearing our clothes love art, know how to have a good time and are all about positive vibes…also love a bloody cold margarita. we didn’t realise there were so many margie lovers out there! IGC.
As Gold Coast locals, how has the local culture and lifestyle influenced the style and ethos of Sabbi?
Here on the Gold Coast, it’s all about lifestyle. Going from the beach to the shops to a cheeky margie with the gals, so we wanted to create something you could wear everywhere but also feel like a solid 10 wearing it!
What’s next for Sabbi?
We have big plans baby so strap in!
We have a killer winter range in the works. We have a men’s range dropping soon and we want to continue to make fashion-forward prints and designs that make people feel good.
We want people to love what they’re wearing and we want to promote positive energy through our clothes. If we can make a few people laugh along the way then we are winning.
What are your Gold Coast favourites?
Favourite café: Don’t hate us. but we love a 7/11 coffee. When we were starting up Sabbi we had to sell everything so our budget was TIGHT AS…7/11 coffee grew on us haha. If we aren’t 7/11ing then Well Bread and Pastry in Palmy.
Favourite restaurant: Deli by Peppi…Cheese wheel Wednesdays are something else!
Favourite bar: Scott’s in Palm Beach for a delicious Pet Nat
Favourite beach: Palmy Ave
How do you choose to spend your days off?
Hanging out with the twins, Taking Allen and Merv to the dog park. When we get some alone time we love nothing more than to get a bottle of Pet Nat and sit on the couch in our jammies watching really really sh*t TV (Housewives of Beverly Hills, Southern Charm, Below Deck to name a few) while talking…Jase usually falls asleep and is snoring an hour in.