Fashion designer Godwin Hili returns in style

It was in September 2017 that Melbourne fashion designer Godwin Hili’s world came crashing down. 

In the years before, Hili had built up his fashion label Godwin Charli to six stores, including a flagship location in Chadstone’s high-end fashion district that opened to much fanfare in June 2016.

Godwin Charli also had an impressive celebrity clientele that included Liam Hemsworth, Sir Richard Branson, Todd Woodbridge, Ash Barty and Megan Gale.

Hili also supplied high-profile sporting teams, including the Carlton, Essendon, and Geelong football clubs and the Australian Davis Cup tennis team, with his signature suits. 

But despite his clientele and his reputation, the reality of running a medium-sized fashion business, the expenses, the pressure, the commitments all became too much. 

“It got to the point we just couldn’t make commercial sense of the business; the overheads became just too big for our little private bank accounts,” he says.

“It then became a conscious decision to wind the business down, so we didn’t create too much damage outside the business.

“I wanted to make sure that I looked after my staff first and foremost, and I didn’t want to leave our suppliers in disarray.” 

Growing up in Melbourne’s western suburbs, Hili, 40,  had followed his dream and made it. So to walk away was incredibly difficult and it took a heavy toll on his mental health.

“I think I hit absolute rock bottom with my mental health,” Hili says of the time.  “I was out of action for four months. 

“Confronting your greatest fears and not being able to think for yourself and operate in a manner that is normal was so hard.

“Turning up to work every day to make normal decisions [was something] I was unable to do.”

Hili says the fashion industry is incredibly tough and there are many designers who start their own labels, build up quickly, then go through a similar experience to his. 

After a couple of years off, Hili has launched a made-to-measure studio in Flinders Lane in the city, which he calls his Atelier but is still under the name Godwin Charli. Clients, both men and women, come in and see him for smart casual outfits, suits, or red carpet dresses. 

He says the Atelier has made him discover the love of fashion designing again.

“Being customer facing again has been incredibly energising for me, because, as you can imagine when you’re rolling out stores you’ve got a network of staff and you lose touch with your customer,” Hili says. “It’s been great for me to reconnect and just designing clothes again.”

He also is focusing on his digital brand, selling his well-regarded designs across the world.

Once married to the craft, Hili now spends more time at home and says family has become extra important – he and his fiancee, Laura, welcomed their son Elijah York in May.

Hili hopes one day to pass on the resilience he learnt the past few years to his son.

“If there is a silver lining from what happened it is that I now want to be an advocate for mental health,” he says.

“I want to pass on what I have learnt to my son, and any future children that I bring into this world. After everything that has happened I feel competent to face any challenges in my life.” 

Although the COVID-19 lockdowns have been tough on him, like every small business, because of what he went through with the store closures he has had the resilience to keep going. 

He believes now, despite the most recent Victorian lockdown, there is a real change in customers’ attitude compared to 2020.

“I feel people want to go out and get dressed up again. We are all ready,” he says. “The future is looking bright.” 

Godwin Charli \ Level 2/165 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

godwincharli.com