“Make sure to listen and don’t be offended by any constructive criticism…”

– SAM BALCOMBE

Tell us a little about your experiences since. Where have you worked? Where do you work now?

After completing my Advanced Diploma of Fashion and Textile Design in 2013, I went travelling and ended up in London where I was working in cafes/retail and doing internships with small fashion brands. I then worked as a small brand buyer/manager for concept store 75 Redchurch in Shoreditch, where I had my first experience with going to Paris for Fashion Week and buying trips to Korea. It was here that I very slowly started my brand SBA @sba_label and was selling it in store.

At the start of 2020 - I quit the retail job and started doing freelance work in various areas in the industry which really opened my eyes to the bigger picture in fashion. I was tailor on set for shoots (ranging from Zara-Gucci) for North6 and stylist Celestine Cooney. My first celebrity job was to design and create a show pieces for a Dior funded short film for Oliver Sim’s solo debut.

In 2021 I teamed up with 4 other independent designers and we did a pop up shop for a week in a space in Soho. It went really well and we went on to do 2 more pop ups that year where we sourced other independent brands to join us. These pop ups were perceived really well, and we continued to do this for 2 more years in different areas all over London. Around this time for SBA I started stocking selling in stores in New York, LA and South Korea.

Around this time I started to work as a style assistant for Yeon You, which I realised I enjoyed a lot more than doing tailor on set. I always loved being on photoshoots when I was interning before, I didn’t really realise that this could be an actual job after coming from a small place like Perth. I started to freelance in bigger teams for stylists such as Lotta Volkova, Karl Templer, Melanie Ward and Marie Amelie for brands ranging from Miu Miu, Dior, Fendi, Moncler Phoebe Philo and YSL, where there was a lot more work and responsibility involved in the job. I got to work on huge productions with all of the world’s top photographers, DOP’s and models, it really was so much fun (but very hard work) and eye-opening. I was one of Karls main freelance team in London, I learnt a lot with him as he does consulting for Moncler and Zara, so it was interesting to see the whole design process and critiques. I was traveling 3 times a month with him throughout Europe. I had gotten to a point in 2023 where my online store for SBA was really starting to pop, so I stopped taking so many jobs and only took work from Lotta and Karl.

In 2023 we decided to make our store collective a bit more permanent and we changed our name to Alta Store. We did a 6 month pop up back in Soho where we did our very first ever pop up. This went very well so we kept extending the lease and now stock over 40 designers from all over the world. We have now been there for 2 years (and are signing on to a 5 year lease) and have gained a lot of exposure with an article written in British Vogue, Highsnobiety and just recently we did a partnership collab with Nike. We took our store to Paris Fashion Week in 2024, and we are now planning a pop up in New York for 2026.

SBA is now selling mostly online and in store at Alta as well as a select few stores in London, Europe and America.

What advice would you give to current Art & Design students studying at NM TAFE right now?

Make the most out of your time at TAFE I have such fond memories of my time there! Make sure to listen and don’t be offended by any constructive criticism by the lecturers. They have your best interests at heart. Fashion is a difficult industry to pursue, and if you end up being overseas and working for the big guys you will be challenged a lot.

What's coming up next?

So I have just moved back to Perth after living in London for 11 years. SBA is at a point where it is consistently doing well so I will be working on it from here, as well as working on Alta remotely. I am opening a 6 month pop up shop very soon in Fremantle called Basket Studio. It will be a space for independent Australian designers and also the studio for SBA.