Bringing it Back to Men
Story by Rachel Smith
Photos: Turama Photography & Bergman Gallery
Shane Andrew grew up wearing shirts. It was just what you
wore to look smart. When he moved to the Cook Islands
from Aotearoa in 2006 it wasn’t so easy to find a great shirt.
He tried and failed to find shirts that fit his longer torso,
resorting in the end to buying oversized and tapering them
to fit. By the end of the CITTI course Shane had produced two shirts
when everyone else had made one. It was just the beginning.
“I’ve always loved shirts and clothes in general,” he says. “I
wished someone would do something a little bit more hip, a
little bit cooler with a little bit more finish.” Shane worked through some style options, his painting and
photography, and design skills developed through a marketing
day job, all playing a part.
So he did it himself, launching his fashion label, SABATI at
Beachcomber in December, 2018. “It’s a blessing to have that stretch,” he says. “The battle with
design is the personal ideas, something edgy and funky, and the
realistic ideas of comfort and practicality.
I started off with a slim tailored fit but I
realised it wasn’t practical.”
“I have always had a fascination with
celebrations. The warm feeling you get
when your family, your Nan and Papa and
cousins are there. Everyone strives to be on
their best behaviour,” says Shane.
“SABATI for me is about celebration,
looking your best for Sunday and the
family. It’s recognition about being a better
person, whoever you are and wherever you
are from. It’s about our cultural heritage
and how we integrate that into our
clothing and into our world.”
“And it’s about bringing it back to men,
many who are lacking respect in terms of
their relationships with their partners, their
families, and with themselves. I’d like to
bring that back a bit with nice shirts, with
a collar.”
In 2016 Shane enrolled in the very first make-a-shirt course at
Cook Islands Tertiary Training Institute (CITTI), talking his
way into the fully booked class. He was serious about it right
from the get go, bringing to the design process a creative skillset
that began with primary school sewing classes back in Aotearoa.
“We had to make a garment,” he says. “It took me a whole year
to make a pair of pleated shorts. They were in Scottish tartan
with yellow lining and a black hem on the bottom and for the
belt.”
44 • Escape Magazine
“If I’m doing it, then I’m doing it – that was the point of the
course,” says Shane. “Anything you love you’ve got to commit.
And it hasn’t felt like work – it’s felt like a really long painting
or creative process.”
In the end it came down to two fits, big
boy island fit and slim fit, in sizes M
through to 3XL, and standard, rounded or
Mandarin collars. With base styles set in
place the creative process then became all
about the fabric.
“When I shop I like to think about what
I buy and how it’s going to impact me
and my place,” says Shane who chooses to
source his fabric locally - opa, 100% cotton
pareu print fabric, and poplin, for a hard
wearing and sophisticated look. The upside
to the limited quantities available means
that each style is limited to 15-16 items
and that there is always something new in
store.
“I look for the contrast in fabrics,” he says, playing off different
colours of the same pareu pattern.
A few days out from the launch and Shane’s living room is a
chaos of fabric – hung shirts, shirts to be ironed, screen printed
patches that will be given away on the night. It’s what you
would expect from a space where over 200 garments in 20
distinct styles have been designed and produced over the past
five months.