It runs in the family

With her sights set on the future, Brisbane fashion designer Juli Grbac is set to sew up a storm, writes Siobhan Hegarty.

 

 

The downstairs area of a suburban Brisbane home isn’t a space one would normally associate with the workings of a popular Australian fashion designer. Far removed from the glamourous interiors paraded in films and television shows, the workroom of Project Runway winner, Juli Grbac, seems more family than business.

 

Indeed the family element has been crucial to her success. Running the fashion label from underneath her parents’ home, 30-year-old Juli remains motivated, and well fed, with the help of her doting parents. With personal photographs lining the walls and the aromatic scent of bacon and eggs wafting in from upstairs, homeliness is immediately apparent in the Grbac workroom.  

 

“Do you mind if I eat breakfast?” Juli asks, returning from the kitchen. “Mum likes to cook me food. She knows I’ll forget to eat if she doesn’t.”

 

It’s no wonder Juli tends to miss meal a meal or two. In the lead up to Sydney fashion week, she hurriedly prepares her collection and organises last minute details for her label’s first ever showing at the event.   

 

“We’re ridiculously busy at the moment. I’m working on overdrive,” Juli explains. “Sometime I don’t leave the workroom until 2 o’clock in the morning and I’m usually back here at 6am.”

 

Owning her own business for the past six years, Juli’s committed work ethic has formed from years of hands-on experience. Introduced to the fashion industry at an early age, Juli says she “grew up in the sewing business.” After being taught to sew as a ten-year-old, Juli learnt the tricks of the trade from her mother, Tina Grbac

 

Unlike Juli’s natural progression into fashion, Tina entered the industry as a means of practicality. Working as a hand-sewer for Brisbane label Easton Pearson and other corporate companies, she later started her own business underneath the family home.

 

“Juli used to say, ‘I wish you were 63 and retired so you could be at home with us,’” Tina recalls, remembering her reasons for becoming a stay-at-home sewer. 

 

The downstairs area is now dedicated Juli Grbac designs, filled with cutting boards, sewing machines, evening gowns and articles about the label’s success. No longer running her own business, Tina remains keen to share her expertise and to assist Juli in any way, shape or form.

 

“Juli has no time, so I’m happy to help her with her business. At the moment she is our priority, we’re here to help, money wise, food wise… everything! We know that Juli will do well with her business. She’s very determined, talented and passionate.”

 

Juli says her family has been a vital support network throughout the course of her career, from the initial stages of rejection to the constant demands of her business today. Far from being an overnight success story, she maintains her accomplishments are the result of encouragement, commitment and self made luck.

 

“Upcoming designers need to realise it takes many years of hard work to get established. You have to be prepared for rejection. I’ve had disappointment and tears, but I was able to continue and stay focussed. I guess you just have this voice inside you that urges you to keep going, no matter what.”

 

It was Juli’s fighting spirit that led to her winning the reality television show, Project Runway. After being knocked back in the initial stages, she was given a second chance on the show, which ultimately reshaped the course of her career.

 

“Project Runway was an amazing experience. Working on national level and with national exposure I gained a better perspective about the fashion industry,” Juli says. “The support and media recognition I received from the show has been really important. Even now I have women ringing me and asking if I can make them the wedding dress I designed in episode three!”

 

 

Juli says many of her achievements came from years of preparation. After studying design at Mt Gravatt TAFE she worked three jobs to pay for a ticket overseas. Living in London, Juli was employed as a hand-sewer by celebrity fashion house, Voyage.

 

“It was probably the hardest time in my life. I was earning ₤4 50 an hour, working in a job I hated. But I maintained the motivation to stay there for one and a half years… The experience I gained as a hand-sewer probably contributed to my success in winning Project Runway.”

 

In the competitive world of fashion, longevity is never certain. Fully aware of the industry’s economic instability, it was only last year that Juli quit her ‘day job’ at a pharmacy. Now focussed on the expansion of her brand, she remains hopeful for the future.

 

“My main goal is to stay in business!” Juli laughs.

 

“No, apart from that, I would like to be stocked in the major department stores and I’m planning to export my designs to the European and Asian markets in the next two years.”

 

“Of course,” she adds, smiling. “The ultimate dream is to hold a showing of my designs in Paris. I’ve given myself a time limit of ten years, but I think I can do it in seven. That would mean I’d 37 at the time, which seems a pretty good age.”