Hospobilia: how repping your local’s merch became a fashion hit

Fashion has become a vital ‘side hustle’ for Australian bars and restaurants struggling through lockdown, as punters buy into the hyperlocal look

Joey Kellock’s journey from hometown dreamer to lasagne baron was already storied by the time I ran into him while shopping for oregano at Piedimonte’s supermarket in Melbourne in 2019.

Dressed in a white fleece crew neck bearing his enterprise’s name, when I asked him how business was, he told me, bemused: “I’m selling more trackies than lasagne.”