When I first discovered the brand Neil Vernon, I was struck by the depth and authenticity that Shanelle and Josh bring to the table. It's a breath of fresh air in a world often too busy to notice the little things. They've turned their back on the frantic pace of the world to focus on what really matters - making clothes that mean something, for people who value moments over minutes.
In their creative process, there's a clear sense of purpose and a drive to make fashion that's not just wearable but meaningful. The couple's journey in fashion, rooted deeply in personal experiences and shared dreams, reflects a dedication to not just create but to connect.
From the legacy in the label's name to the care sewn into each piece, Neil Vernon is about making fashion personal again.
26 January, 2024
So both of you had your own separate clothing brands, what was the pivotal moment that led you both to transition from running separate to coming together and founding Neil Vernon?
Shanelle: I think a big part of any creative pursuit is the passion that comes with it, and following where your passion goes. For a while we were both running individual brands that were heavily focused on producing handmade garments.
The decision to produce handmade clothes was made by the both of us because we both had a passion for sewing and garment construction. But as always, it’s a really tricky balance between having a hobby, like sewing, and then keeping the passion for it when you make it your ‘job’ and add monetary stakes to it. I think over time we both fell out of love with our business’ and there was no passion to create garments. And speaking for myself personally, it was physically and mentally difficult running a clothing brand alone. I was overwhelmed to put it bluntly. I have so much respect for solo business owners – it’s a true labour of love.
But although we didn’t feel aligned with our individual business’, the end goal was still the same – to create something with our name on it that existed within the fashion sphere. After realising that we could reignite the passion by working on something together, we sort of naturally fell into running a business together! We’ve both recently had this conversation about whether we could go back to running a business separately and, well, the short answer is no. Having a sounding board and someone to keep you accountable in the chaos is such a privilege and one that truly helps sustain the drive needed to build a brand.
Josh, could you take us back to the moment when 'Neil Vernon' first popped into your mind? It sounds like a name close to your heart, long before the brand took off. What's the story behind it, and what makes it so special to you?
Josh: For years, building a brand under the name ‘Neil Vernon’ was something that was always in the back of my mind. I can’t say there was a specific moment, it sort of started as a small thought after my dad passed away that always lingered. I was just waiting for the right time to start the brand, and once I met Shanelle, I knew I wanted to get the gears running and build Neil Vernon.
For me, naming the brand after my dad came from this desire to find a unique way of paying tribute to him. I attribute all the opportunities and experiences I had in my younger years to him and his dedication to his own small business, so this was almost a way to say thank you to him. He was the type of person to not really understanding fashion, but always encourage me to pursue what I enjoyed. So, while he wasn’t much of a creative person himself, he could see I had a spark for the fashion industry and so establishing NV is my way of keeping this spark alive and connection to him.
The brand name 'Neil Vernon' is a deeply personal homage to your late father. Can you share how his lifestyle and values have been a guiding influence in shaping the direction of your brand?
Josh: My dad was quite honestly the biggest inspiration for me. He was the most hard-working man you would ever meet. He had his own real-estate business based in Perth and like other business owners, he was constantly working 7 days a week. While you’d think that would mean he didn’t have time to care for myself and my 2 sisters, he still managed to find the time to attend our weekend sporting events and primary school assemblies. He was always present, always dedicated. He really instilled in me this concept of taking time off to spend time with the people that matter to you. I’d say for both Shanelle and I, we use this as inspiration as to how we want to run Neil Vernon. We’re both very busy people and constantly working, but we’re not ones to sacrifice our friends or family in the pursuit of success. And when we are at the level where we can hire employees, it’s something we’d want to instil in them. It’s a tricky balance but it’s built on this idea of just trusting in the process and taking the time to create something great, similar to what my father did with his business.
Shanelle: I guess that’s what’s so special about running NV with Josh – we both have our own separate roles within the company, and we heavily stick to it. I focus heavily on all front-facing and creative aspects of the business – the marketing, leading photoshoots, designing collections and anything else that falls under the creative umbrella. All else falls under Josh’s domain (no finances for me, thank god).
Of course, we are always communicating and cross checking our work with each other so the line between our roles sometimes blurs, but on a weekly basis our tasks are very differentiated. One person is always leading the creative aspects and the other leading the back-end practical projects. We’re pretty strict about this separation to avoid stepping on each other’s toes – it definitely keeps the sanity in the relationship.
Josh: Keeping our roles separate and quite distinct has helped maintain the balance. While Shanelle oversees all creative aspects, my focus is on the back-end operations. That covers everything from communicating with overseas factories and developing our illustrations and tech packs to managing the business finances and admin. We’re constantly reviewing each other’s tasks and roles to see where we can better delegate stuff to manage the workload for each other.
Following up on that, for both of you, how do you balance the creative process with the practical aspects of running a business, especially in a field as dynamic as fashion?
Shanelle, I'm curious about the unique touch you add to the label. How do your own experiences blend with the brand's value of slow living?
Shanelle: I resonated with the ethos of slow living as it bleeds into all aspects of life – from the way you live, to the way you fill your wardrobe! To ‘live slow’ means to be more conscious in your decision making and prioritise intentional, slow existence. I often find myself relating this to concept of building a capsule wardrobe – when you have those core, foundational pieces that make dressing and feeling good easy, it leaves room to enjoy all the other moments of the day. When I was younger and in my fast-fashion Supre-esque era I would always spend so much time dressing myself with these trendy pieces – none of them would match, obviously (the galaxy tights still haunt me), so I would go through this crazy cycle of spending hours finding an outfit and still not being satisfied. Once I started prioritising elevated essential wear it completely removed the time barrier of dressing and the mental load of having to figure out different outfits for each day of the week. It sounds silly but it’s little things like having a dynamic functional wardrobe that makes a huge change in your everyday life.
I really try and emulate this concept when designing pieces – a core question I always ask myself is how many different situations could I wear this in and further, how can I innovate this to meet my audiences needs and make their lives easier? Whether it’s creating pieces that transform into different necklines (like our Isla Long Sleeves) or one’s that allow you to customise the fit (coming soon!), I really just want to add value for our community though thought-out garments.
I want to take it a little further back, how did you both meet each other and what sparked the idea of collaborating together?
Shanelle: So, we met whilst I was studying Law/BCII at UTS. Josh was working as a barista at this café and to put it plainly – I thought he was very, very cute. I was too shy to go up to him, so a friend gave him my number and we went on a first date the next day! For all my girls, take this as your sign to take matters into your own hands. On our first date we both learnt that our life goals were heavily aligned as at that point Josh was running a clothing brand already and I was in the process of starting one.
Fast forward a month or so after we made it official, we were walking the streets of Surry Hills when Josh told me he had always wanted to launch a business named ‘Neil Vernon’ after his late father. But at this point, Josh wanted it to be a homewares brand – think incense holders and candles. Over the next couple of months Josh started developing some products and I would help out here and there. I naturally ended up spending a lot of time helping him, so he quickly asked me to come on board with the brand. It seems like fate looking back on this because we later realised that Josh and I’s father actually share a birthday – meant to be? Who knows.
Josh: It’s funny looking back on the journey. After Shanelle came on board, we probably spent close to $1000 developing these random incense holders that were in the shape of hands before realising we knew absolutely nothing about interior design or homewares. It was definitely a ‘what the hell are we doing’ moment. But it was all in the name of learning. We quickly pivoted to building a clothing brand which felt much more natural and began this ever-evolving journey of building NV to what it is today.
What’s the inspiration behind one of your recent collections?
All our collections revolve heavily around this idea of tying femininity with functionality. We love creating garments that make you feel chic and elevated, while still having features that make them suited to your everyday life, Our last collection ‘Monochrome Essentials’ played into this quite heavily as we used a lot of stretch cottons/lycra to create these beautiful fitted long sleeves that hug the body tightly, but we also added an adjustable strap to the back which allows you to alter the neckline and wear the top in different ways – we love adding unexpected features, creating that ‘oh wow!’ moment.
From your perspective, what is the most urgent change that needs to happen in the fashion industry today?
Shanelle: There are so many things that need to change like consumer spending habits, and misinformation in the supply chain and I wouldn’t necessarily say one is more urgent than the other. But coming from a law background, I was always very interested in the concept of compliance and waste regulation, specifically the lack of regulation around textile wastage from large scale fast fashion companies. When the concept of sustainability and fast fashion is brought up, people quickly put the blame on consumers who keep these companies in business. While this is very much true, it takes two to tango and we can’t take the blame away from the companies themselves. There are so many fast fashion companies who are producing so much textile offcuts during the production process because they are pushing out 100s of styles a season. There’s no ‘fashion law’ that penalises these places for their waste. If we were able to regulate this and impose some type of penalty at a corporate level, I truly think it would cause a shift in the industry and destabilise the rate at which companies can produce fast fashion.
Tips on how to live life slow?