About Us

The Story of VDM

VDM was born from a simple spark of inspiration in 2023. At just 13 years old, I got the idea to start creating clothing when my auntie walked in wearing a custom T-shirt she made herself using an iron and heat transfer paper from Kmart. Seeing what she created, I immediately saw an opportunity. With her help, I made my first ever design, printed it onto transfer paper at her workplace, and pressed it onto a blank shirt using a household iron. That first shirt was the start of something bigger.

After making a few pieces this way, we decided to take things more seriously. We bought our first heat press for $130 off eBay and began producing custom clothing. My grandma, who had a background in selling handmade clothing and signage back in South Africa, joined in to help. Every time we got an order, we would create a gang sheet — a sheet filled with multiple customer designs — and send it off to our printing supplier. Once we received the printed sheets, we would manually cut out each design and carefully heat-press them onto garments, one by one.

By mid-2024, VDM began to shift focus. Rather than making custom orders for others, we leaned into creating our own original designs — pieces that felt authentic to us. We spent countless days learning Photoshop, experimenting with ideas, and developing our own creative style. We found that the designs we loved most were the ones that reflected what we found cool, raw, and meaningful.

Today, VDM is more than just a custom-printing business. It’s a brand. It draws heavy inspiration from the ancient, artistic, and brutal aesthetics of predate Greece and Rome, blended with modern vintage streetwear culture. We create limited, story-driven pieces for people who value creativity, meaning, and individuality in what they wear.

VDM still proudly offers custom DTF printing and will soon expand into embroidery, staying connected to our roots by working with my grandma at local markets. But our vision is bigger: to grow VDM across Australia and eventually around the world — all while staying true to our journey, our creativity, and the spirit that started it all.