Profile

John Condilis

John is the co-founder of Australian brand, Nobody Denim. Nobody is a proud vertically integrated business committed to supporting local industry and the future of Australian manufacturing. 

Walk us through Nobody’s inception and history; how has it navigated industry challenges over the years?

I got involved in fashion—notably denim—in the ‘80s. My dad was a service provider for a designer back then, and this connection allowed me to see—from the roots of manufacturing—how something evolves from design through to end product. Towards the late ‘80s, I started assisting my dad with a large fashion brand part-time between studying Engineering. It was during this time that I fell in love with denim.

My brother and I then started a laundry business in 1992 where I continued my love for product. It was a real buzz back then, when the link between design and end product to consumer was so tight. It wasn’t an ‘us and them’ dynamic—the CEOs and the designers were with us in the laundries.. There was engagement in the factories and face-to-face interaction, which allowed for knowledge sharing and transparency. It was energetic, with a hype of activity. And while it was still protected to a degree back then, you would visit a manufacturer and find people from various local brand competitors walking around overseeing their production. Transparency and connection to the making process was the norm, simply business as usual. This meant that, culturally, it was very different.

The reduction in tariffs in the mid ’90s was when things really started changing. Many of our major clients—the likes of Target and Just Jeans—started focusing on offshore manufacturing opportunities as a way of reducing costs. It was at this point we started realising we needed to look after ourselves. This is when we started playing with the idea of having our own brand. What do we know best? Denim.

The intention was to always make Nobody denim locally. As with other smaller fashion labels at the time, we saw a gap and a real opportunity to maximise on the resources made available when larger brands moved offshore. The equipment, the skilled workers, the facilities.. They were no longer all considering us too small. Factories now had to be filled and these factories had the expertise to help smaller garment businesses grow. And these brands had a different pricing model which didn’t put the same pressure on factories, so it became a beneficial arrangement for all.

That said, there was still this bitterness in our industry due to many manufacturers and laundries being burned by the big boys. There was no loyalty when these bigger brands went offshore – all of a sudden, within six months, they were gone. These facilities had invested so much to set themselves up and now many of them were empty. From our experience in the laundry, we knew many of the manufacturers and had built up a respect and credibility within the industry. This meant we were able to connect with those manufacturers which we felt had a similar attitude to ethics and responsible business.

Why is Nobody passionate about producing in Australia? What have been the opportunities and/or limitations of manufacturing onshore?

Between 2005 – 2008, I travelled to Turkey and China to explore whether we should continue here or consider going offshore. Going to both of those places, I realised that my knowledge and expertise was very well respected; I realised that if I decided to move our production offshore I would simply be taking this away from local industry. I couldn’t do it.

When I came home, I started working back with our local manufacturers to help them work smarter not harder. This is when I learned more about the principles of Lean Manufacturing: a method that focuses on eliminating waste from the production process. We went through our facilities and identified a lot of waste, and so started working on a program to improve our environment. We also focused on improving our culture as well as our social responsibility. This was a big challenge. I went around trying to educate these factories on the science of doing things better, but there was a lot of resistance. At that point in time, one of the manufacturers said they’d had enough and no longer wanted to operate, so I asked them whether they wanted to sell their equipment. I ended up taking on their employees too, of which there were around eight or ten. With the Lean process, I developed a small manufacturing plant behind the laundry and, put simply, everyone thought I was mad.

The purpose of Lean is to deliver one product to the customer when they need it; to not build up something that you don’t need, that will sit on the shelf or have a short lifecycle; to have flow of product through the factory that leads to cash flow. Ultimately, to minimise deadstock. Back then, the goal was to have a garment off the line every five to ten minutes. I didn’t get one off the line for the first three weeks…But I was persistent. I worked with each operator to help them understand how it worked; some walked out as they couldn’t comprehend what I wanted from them so I would have to replace them. Then eventually, we built up to finishing ten, thirty, fifty…hundreds of garments a day, and I could see the concept was working. There was no finished stock building up on the factory floor like you see with other factories. While we continued to grow rapidly, the Lean process made us more efficient.

I originally took Nobody in-house because I felt I wasn’t going to get the support I needed externally. I had to create my own culture and way of doing things. We as a brand have grown this ever since. The reason the brand is called Nobody is because there is not one person behind it. There is no face to the brand. Nobody is about collaboration and everyone’s input. Whether it’s the designers, the makers or the salespeople, everyone has contributed to the success of the brand.