It’d be a bit rich of us to pretend that Brisbane boasts the same range of men’s fashion retailers that shoppers will find in Sydney or Melbourne. Be that as it may, the River City has come leaps and bounds in the last half-decade: with most of the high street brands we’re all familiar with now firmly established here.
In our guide to Brisbane menswear boutiques, we’ve opted for a different tact. Instead, choosing to focus on a couple of key local outfits, many of whom are woven neatly into the fabric of the Brisbane fashion community.
From trusted multi-brand boutiques to one of Australia’s foremost specialists in made-to-measure suiting, these are eight of the best menswear stores in Brisbane right now.
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Subtype, Brisbane CBD
Phone Number: (07) 2112 1349
Opening Hours: Monday – Thursday (10 AM – 6 PM); Friday (10 AM – 9 PM); Saturday – Sunday (11 AM – 5 PM)
This local chapter of multi-brand streetwear behemoth Subtype is the fifth in Australia — sporting a raw, vaguely subterranean fit-out and convenient location in the Brisbane CBD.
Sneakers (both men’s and women’s) are evidently a core theme, with multiple shoe walls in the store displaying new, sometimes limited releases from Asics, Salomon, New Balance and more.
The menswear edit here is also much more eclectic than the storefront initially lets on. As with cult Sydney retailer Maplestore, shoppers can get into a variety of fashion and outdoor type brands: some of our favourites of which include 032c and Gramicci.
As with other Subtype locations around Australia, think of this as a footwear-first destination. Albeit one that happens to stock the kind of multi-genre menswear that will look great with statement sneakers.
Laced, Brisbane CBD (Best Sneakers)
Phone Number: (07) 3012 7888
Opening Hours: Monday – Thursday (10 AM – 5 PM); Friday (10 AM – 9 PM); Saturday (11 AM – 6 PM); Sunday (12 noon – 5 PM)
Basically the Brisbanian answer to Sydney’s Supply Store, Laced has been kitting out lovers of sneakers and streetwear for 18 years — an institution among the Queensland capital’s fashion set.
Initially, the store built its fanbase with a raft of covetable sneaker drops from the likes of Nike and the Jordan subline. These days, as hypebeast style continues to fall out of relevance in our popular culture, Laced has held the attention of its customers by introducing cult designers from around the globe (such as Clot and Martine Rose).
Of course, the shopfront on Elizabeth Street is still far and away one of the best places in Brisbane to go when you need advice about how to clean, maintain, and build your sneaker collection.
P Johnson, Fortitude Valley
Phone Number: (07) 3316 2933
Opening Hours: Monday – Saturday (9:30 AM – 5:30 PM); Sunday (10 AM – 4 PM)
While some readers might groan at the inclusion of yet another Sydneyside brand — in what is ostensibly a shortlist of Brisbane’s best menswear boutiques — the acclaim for Patrick Johnson’s eponymous fashion house obliges us, at the bare minimum, to give it a hat tip.
Originally a Sydney tailoring firm specialising in made-to-measure menswear, the brand has spent the past decade evolving into a standard bearer for Australian style — so much so that we included it in our guide to the nation’s best fashion brands. Now complete even with fully fledged ready-to-wear lines for men and women.
P Johnson Brisbane, located at the edge of the swanky James Street retail precinct, is cosy by the standards of the brand’s showrooms in Windsor (Melbourne) and the Sydney CBD.
That said, it’s a win for locals: many of whom previously had to make a trip interstate to put their mitts on the brand’s incalculably louche mix of sportswear, suiting and accessories.
Mitchell Ogilvie, Brisbane CBD
Phone Number: (07) 3316 2933
Opening Hours: Monday – Saturday (9:30 AM – 5:30 PM); Sunday (10 AM – 4 PM)
Nothing short of an institution among Brisbane men’s fashion retailers, Mitchell Ogilvie founded his eponymous store in 1981 — with the goal of building the city’s “finest luxury menswear emporium”. Four decades on, this private and independently run boutique remains a household name among well-heeled Brisbanians: among the few luxury retailers in the city to offer door-to-door service, alterations and even a full made-to-measure program.
The Ogilvie brand roster has, of course, changed over the years: yet is threaded together by a strong preference toward Italian luxury houses.
Many years later, this landmark Brisbane retailer remains one of the few places in Australia where you can buy Brioni at all — along with a handful of similarly artisanal brands that fit the relaxed and tropical lifestyle of Southeast Queensland.
And, as if James Street needed any more premium retail options, the Ogilvie team just opened a secondary shopfront there earlier this September.
The Cloakroom, Brisbane CBD (Best Tailor)
Phone Number: (07) 3210 1515
Opening Hours: Monday – Friday (10 AM – 5:30 PM); Saturday (10 AM – 4 PM)
Founded in Brisbane by a diverse partnership of friends over a decade ago, The Cloakroom is easily the most high-quality tailoring firm you’ll find in the Queensland capital. Big call: possibly even in Australia.
Working from a serene upper-floor location on Queen Street (the nerve centre of luxury in Brisbane), shoppers will find lots to delight in when they first step across The Cloakroom’s stylish, dramatically upholstered space. There are a handful of meticulously curated goods from third-party brands — think scents by Frapin and Stefano Bemer shoes — but the main event is definitely the tailoring.
Crafted exclusively at the brand’s partner workshop in Kyoto, the emphasis here is all on Japanese-made suiting. Expect jackets cut with an elegantly rotated shoulder, drape where it counts and generous proportions.
Prices start at $2,995 with a turnaround averaging six to eight weeks. For shoppers accustomed to forking out Brioni and Tom Ford-type money, a fully bespoke service is also available.
Richards & Richards, Fortitude Valley
Phone Number: (07) 3666 0550
Opening Hours: Monday – Friday (9:30 AM – 5:30 PM); Saturday (9:30 AM – 4 PM); Sunday (10 AM – 3 PM)
Richards & Richards is a multi-brand retailer that Brisbane fashion enthusiasts have almost certainly heard of. Now in its fifth generation, under the stewardship of Joachim Richards, the store (located in the plush James Street retail precinct) specialises almost exclusively in a handful of classic sartorial brands.
Beyond its own name-brand selection of shirts and ties — great gifts for Dad, mind you — Richards & Richards is the only retailer in Brisbane where shoppers can jump into a selection of suits by Isaia, the expensive and often lavishly detailed Italian suiting brand that is (in)famous for its ‘Red Coral’ branding.
Calexico Man, Fortitude Valley (Best Casualwear)
Phone Number: 0428 039 663
Opening Hours: Monday – Wednesday (9:30 AM – 5 PM); Thursday – Friday (9:30 AM – 6 PM); Saturday (9:30 AM – 5 PM); Sunday (10 AM – 4 PM)
Part of Brisbane fashion entrepreneur Nicky Charman’s wider universe of Calexico stores, there are no prizes for guessing what the specialty at Calexico Man happens to be.
Just one door down from the Venroy Brisbane store, Calexico Man’s offering centres heavily on designer labels from Italy, Britain, and Northern Europe. Much of the store’s buy feels bang-on for the Brisbane climate and lifestyle. Think cosy resort wear by Frescobol Carioca and perfectly pre-distressed sneakers from the likes of Golden Goose.
Pro tip: As with a host of dining and retail partners in the surrounding James Street area, ‘Friends of Calile’ members can nab a 10% discount when shopping at Calexico Man. All you have to do is download the hotel’s app. Easy-peasy.
Bespoked, Fortitude Valley
Phone Number: 0448 798 999
Opening Hours: Monday – Friday (10:30 AM – 5 PM); Saturday (10:30 AM – 4 PM)
This Brisbane-based outpost of a tailoring firm that is also extant in Malaysia and Hong Kong is overseen by Ian Chang, noted locally for outfitting a laundry list of the city’s officials, business leaders and movers & shakers.
Chang is upfront about his company’s Malaysian-made provenance: a factoid that shouldn’t discourage shoppers. Having interned at Maurice Sedwell (a Savile Row tailor of good standing), Chang can very credibly claim to be one of Brisbane’s few bespoke tailors.
The Savile Row connection means that the bones of Chang’s house style are classically English: with an extended shoulder, neat quarters, and generously cut lapels. After your fitting, be sure to duck into Sixes & Sevens next door for the Fortitude Valley’s tastiest pub grub.
If you’ve enjoyed this shortlist of Brisbane’s best menswear boutiques and tailors, then consider some of our other sartorially inclined city guides:
