The Calile Hotel might not yet be finished, but it’s already having a major impact on the James Street precinct with the opening of a string of new boutique fashion stores. One of the first is much-loved Australian label Bassike, which unveiled its debut Brisbane outlet last Friday.

The brand has developed a cult following since it was established in Sydney in 2006 by designers Deborah Sams and Mary Lou Ryan. It filled a gap in the local market for quality basics made with sustainable fabrics. Bassike uses organic cotton and high-end construction with the intention of creating collections for everyday wear.

“It just felt like the perfect time to bring our brand to Brisbane,” Ryan says. “We know that we have a good customer following … we have lots of customers that would fly down from Brisbane and visit our Sydney stores.”

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Bassike again employed its regular design company Akin Atelier to create a space with plenty of natural light via double-height glass windows. Warm, earthy tones run throughout. A large, rounded centre island and timber-clad walls offset the building’s concrete pillars and industrial ceiling.

At 135 square metres, the new shop is the largest single-level store ever for Bassike, allowing Ryan and Sams to showcase the brand’s womenswear and menswear collections in full. It marks a change from shopping for the brand via boutique stockists and David Jones.

The store opening coincides with the launch of the brand's collaboration with the Calile on the hotel’s uniforms. This will be Bassike’s first fully-fledged foray into uniform design for the brand.

“There’s a real affinity between the two brands,” Ryan says. “We’re obviously really well known for our cottons, so we’ve done a beautiful cotton jersey, cotton pants and cotton shirting, which is very similar to the Bassike aesthetic, and then we just worked …with them in terms of the colour palette [of mostly whites and stone].”

Bassike
Shop G.02 Calile Hotel, 48 James Street, Fortitude Valley
(07) 3608 2841

Hours:
Mon to Fri 9.30am–5.30pm
Sat 9.30am–5pm
Sun 10am–4pm

bassike.com