Let me introduce you to Callum Rowe founder and director of Men’s Resort Label ‘SEEN’. Callum has created a label that is anonymous and understated with ethical and conscious fashion in mind when creating timeless and comfortable pieces for men.
SEEN clothing uses quality linen, which is a natural, breathable, and fully biodegradable fabric. Callum is proud to be a part of the movement to offer more conscious fashion choices when it comes to casual/resort-style dressing for men.
Fast fashion trends are a thing of the past as fashion savvy men embrace ethical fashion with sophisticated and luxury natural fabrications that are environmentally friendly and can be worn season after season.
Interview with Callum Rowe director and founder of SEEN
Please tell us about yourself and when your love of fashion came about.
My love for fashion came about when I was 20 and started to enter the Fashions on the fields at events and country races, and it only grew from there. I was fortunate enough to win a couple of the fashion events and that gave me the desire to try my luck in Melbourne on Derby Day. I remember the first suit I bought was a grey windowpane suit from MJ Bale. I met Donny Galella that day and he was wonderful. My interest in fashion only grew from there, I started to model occasionally and grew a bit of a following on Instagram and have sort of just plugged along.
Where did the concept begin to create the label ‘Seen’?
In January 2019, I embarked on what would turn out to be my last overseas trip. I teamed up with a few Melbourne tailors (@samueldiamondtailors and @cnavetailor) and took a few of our creations to Pitti Uomo in Florence, which is one of the larger men’s fashion fairs in the world. The style that I saw on display there was incredible and really ignited a flame within to create a line of my own. I had a notebook with me, and on my return trip from Italy to London to Melbourne, I began to sketch what would be the first range for ‘SEEN’.
It sat dormant as a maybe project until the lockdown in April of this year. I was out of work for a month and desperate for a passion project. So, I began to play around with my initial sketches and research what I would need to do to create a brand.
What was your biggest fear creating your own label?
I think the biggest fear that I had was the unknown. This brand is starting from scratch and I had no idea about any of the processes involved. Desiree Deravi the founder of @swfboutique has been the biggest help in all of this. She gave up a lot of her time and answered every question I had and would point me in the right direction to help me figure out the next step and what I needed to do, to get everything into production.
Seen is a menswear label specialising in Linen resort wear please tell us more?
I have always loved wearing linen, the feel of the fabric is amazing, and it breathes so well in summer. The other side to linen is that it is one of the more environmentally friendly fabrics available on the market at the moment. It really is these two components that lead me to work with linen specifically.
In terms of the style of the clothes, I primarily designed them to be what I would want to wear, what makes me feel good. They’re designed with comfort in mind, but I envisage people wearing these at the beach or on vacation.
Who is Seen targeted at specifically? Please tell us about the range and what’s available.
Seen is targeted at men from 16-50. The great thing about linen is that it is versatile, and men of any age can wear the garments. The range includes four different garments, but a few of them like the shorts and short sleeve shirts have a couple of colour variants. My favourite two garments would be the Cosmo short sleeve shirt in navy (also available in Khaki), and the San Carlo Pants in stone. The shirt has an open reveal collar that I love, and the pants are genuinely the comfiest pair of pants I own. I designed the pants after not being able to find a men’s pair of relaxed linen pants in previous summers. Also in the range is the Anzio white Long sleeve shirt, which is a must-have for any man’s wardrobe. Finally, the La Fezzano shorts in green and black are the perfect summer’s day staple.
How do you want men to feel when wearing Seen?
I want men to feel comfortable and confident when they wear Seen, I want them to want to be “seen in Seen”. The range has brought me great joy and should hopefully do the same for others.
Where do you want the label to be in 3 years’ time?
Hopefully, in three years the range will be a lot larger, and I will be able to offer more in the way of colours and designs. I have another two designs cut and ready for sampling for next summer. And there are some women’s wear designs that I have sketched up that I would love to put into sampling as well.
There is plenty to do and lots of hard work involved, but should I be lucky enough for it to take off, I would love to end up working on Seen full time.
Bigger is always the goal, but I don’t want to lose the quality of the clothes or have manufacturing taken away from Australian shores, at this stage, it is important for me to keep the manufacturing and design process local so that I can keep an eye on it all.
Interview by Melinda Sullivan
Words by Callum Rowe
