It started with a shirt.
In January 2020 I wasn't trying to build a clothing brand. I wanted to make a shirt I'd actually wear: the fit from one, the feel of another, and the details I couldn't find on the rack. My dad was living in China and knew people in manufacturing, so getting a sample made felt possible. That was enough to start.
Where I was at
I'd left an engineering degree after about a year and a half. I wasn't sure it was worth the money, or that it was the right path for me. I was doing NBN scoping work for a contractor, and when that fell through I didn't know what was next. The job I took after that, through a family friend, was hard physically and mentally, and not somewhere I wanted to stay.
I was listening to a lot of business podcasts, Gary Vee among them. They gave me the idea that making something might give me some direction. It wasn't confidence. It was a reason to try.
The first shirts weren't good
The first samples were a long way from what I had in my head. I didn't know how to brief a supplier, and I wasn't confident explaining exactly what I wanted. So I learned. How to describe a collar, a length, a weight of fabric. Then how to run a business, how to build a website, and whatever came after that. There was no big plan, just the next thing to learn.
Six years in
I've built Defender for around six years while working full-time. What the business makes has mostly gone straight back into it. I haven't really paid myself. There have been mistakes, products that didn't work, money spent on the wrong things, and a fair bit of stress.
Around 2025 I seriously asked myself whether it was worth it. Every time I asked whether I should stop, the answer was no. Not because I was sure it would work, but because there were still things I hadn't learned, approaches I hadn't tried, and ideas I hadn't finished.
Where "For the Team" came from
Defender didn't start with a mission. "For the Team" came later, as a way of naming what the work had taught me. Know who you're doing it for. Hold yourself to a standard. Keep showing up, especially when walking away would be easier.
My team is my wife, my younger brother, my mates, and the people who've backed this from the start. I want to be someone they can rely on and be proud of, without pretending I've got it all worked out.
What I'm building
I'm not chasing luxury or a billionaire story. I want a business that lasts, that I enjoy working on, and that gives me the freedom to choose how and where I live and work.
And I want to make clothes that earn their place without the story: heavyweight fabric, a fit sampled until it's right, and details you notice every time you put it on. Every order is still packed by hand in Brisbane.
— Josh, Founder