From the Otways to Byron

MANU remembers the night he first laid eyes on the Byron store.

He and his partner Neri were in Crescent Head, driving north from Melbourne, when he scrolled through commercial real estate listings.

“It was like a cute cabin with exposed beams and timber floors on the main road,” he says.

“I could not sleep the entire night. As soon as I woke up we drove to Byron, I rang the real estate agent, and we made it happen.”

That was three years ago.

The Lawson Street store became Ottway The Label’s Byron base. It was a natural step for a brand that had already grown from Melbourne to the Surf Coast, and one that always felt destined for the Northern Rivers.

“The Northern Rivers is what made me fall in love with Australia when I first came here 15 or 16 years ago as a backpacker,” Manu says.

“If you put outdoors living, sustainable living, community and happy days into a smoothie, that is Ottway.”

The couple, Manu López-Vélez and Neri Sacristan, spent years road-tripping the coast, surfing breaks from Bells to Lorne and getting lost in the Otway Ranges.

They eventually bought land in the hills, where they built an off-grid cabin, perched on an old school bus, fitted with solar panels, batteries and a composting toilet.

“It was our little escape,” Manu says. “We were spending so much time in the Otways that we said, all right, the Otways sounds good. We added an extra T to make it different. And that is how we came up with the name.”

The label launched in Melbourne in 2018 and soon opened a first store in Collingwood.

The idea itself took shape in 2017. Manu and Neri spent a year developing designs, visiting manufacturers and building a philosophy before the launch.

“It was never conceived as a business,” Manu says. “It was more a platform, a vehicle for me and my wife to build a community.”

 

They had already tried their hand at other ideas, including interior design, backpacks and even importing Moroccan leather.

But clothing made sense. Both loved vintage pieces, unisex styles and garments that carried a story.

“Our designs started like that, with unisex designs and a vintage feel,” Manu says. “Always with sustainability at the front of the business.”

Sustainability came naturally to Manu.

“I was a renewable energy engineer, developing the first solar farms in Australia,” he says. “I blended that background with the brand and now we have our own solar program where we give back to community projects.”

The Rarebird jacket became one of Ottway’s milestones.

“It just connected with people,” Manu says. “We linked that jacket all around finding your freedom and it was when COVID came in. We did a strong campaign because we were feeling like that, like our freedom was gone. I think it was timing. The message resonated.”

For Manu, the philosophy behind Ottway sharpened further when he left his engineering job.

“The day I quit corporate just to fully chase my dreams I tattooed myself life is for living,” he says.

“Until then it was a beautiful journey, but when I quit corporate and we left Melbourne to travel, it was like, OK, let us chase our dreams. Life is for living.

“Since then we have been trying to inspire everyone, not to quit their jobs, but to chase their dreams. This was our dream, and we are living it.”

Neri says that mantra carries through Ottway’s approach to fashion.

 

“When we say timeless, it means that as long as the community likes the product we keep restocking it,” she says.

“Normally we do products in batches of 200 to 300 pieces. Our collections are 10 pieces while other brands do 50 to 500. We only release what we absolutely love, after field testing everything. Some of the shirts and jackets we started with are still available eight years later.”

Circular fashion is another guiding principle.

“By making only 200 or 250 pieces, we avoid overstocking and overproduction,” Neri says.

“We never have warehouse sales for $5 or $10. We do not want people buying clothing they do not value. In seven years not a single Ottway piece has gone to landfill.”

Behind the scenes, most of the garments are made by long-standing artisan partners.

“Since day one we have produced about 80 per cent of our clothing with a family-owned business near Hong Kong,” Neri says.

“They are not our suppliers, they are our partners. We have grown together. That is full trust.”

The philosophy also comes through in Ottway’s solar initiative.

“So far it is more than 1300 panels across 13 community projects,” Manu says.

“Each project is big, and we are one of the main contributors, but we want our community to feel like with this jacket they have contributed to this particular project.”

 

The community focus extends to events.

“We do gatherings and music gigs,” Manu says.

“And this year we did our first pop-up event in the US, in Oceanside, California, with Dear Tomorrow. Over 250 people came. It was not just about clothes. It was about creativity, freedom, individuality. The vibe was pure connection.”

The global reach is set to expand.

“We just released Ottway Kids with our newborn,” Manu says.

“The brand follows our lifestyle, so now we are going to start travelling as a family.”

The couple are also planning their first European pop-up in Mallorca, the Spanish island where they got engaged and married.

“It was our first trip as a couple,” Manu says. “So why not have the first Ottway pop-up in Europe there as well?”

For all the growth, Manu says the Otways remain at the heart of Ottway’s story.

“The Otways will always be the roots of the brand,” he says.

“It was where we started dreaming, building our little escape, and finding inspiration. That is still what we carry with us today.”

For more information, head to ottwaythelabel.com.