As we continue to develop our Gentleman’s Essentials offering, we wanted to introduce you to Roger and Sam, the founders of Gallantoro, a dapper destination that invites you to tap into your inner Gentleman. That is something we definitely try to encourage 🙂
Gallantoro features a huge range of men’s products, from suits and clothing to leather goods, grooming essentials, coffee makers and portable alcohol kegs. As part of their ‘Gentleman’s Council’ they share tips on travel, grooming and tips into what it means to be a ‘gentleman’.
We were first introduced to Gallantoro by Jim, one of our makers in Sydney, who said that we both had a similar ethos and passion.
We believe as an industry we should support and do a shout out for our fellow makers, so here is our little Q&A with the guys chatting through their journey, current workings and what the future has in store.
BTW – he told me not to quote him verbatim which I have 😉
Enjoy.
A little about Roger and Sam…
We are both from Sydney and have been friends since sitting next to each other in English where we discovered we were both Scorpios. We became great friends even after high school finished, where Sam worked at the financial company I was working for, then again years later where we worked together at another company in the nutrition industry. Eventually, we decided we needed to join our brains and work on a business together, as we are both very entrepreneurial focused – I don’t mean that in the cliche way, more so that we both are very driven and both don’t want to work for anyone else. Sam is very factually and number- driven, whilst I’m more creative, so it is a perfect mix.
On a more personal level, we are both married with two kids, we both love sports although Sam prefers to watch it whilst I prefer to just play it. We look totally different in that Sam is very Aussie and I’m very ethnic looking.
The name was interesting as I remember when we were looking for a name and I pitched this one to Sam at our old office where we worked. Gallantoro is a variation of a word my mum called me when she went to pay me back $20 I gave her earlier, and when I refused to accept it, she called me what I remember as Gallantane, basically in Maltese she was calling me gallant for not taking back the money. In my mind, at that moment (many years ago) I made sure to remember it as a great word to use one day, and it morphed in my head to Gallantoro.
Sam and I were brainstorming ideas in the office as I said, and I remembered it and told him “this is it we’re done, I have the name, are you ready? This is the name…” etc and yea when I told him he loved it too.
Our initial aspiration was to create a place where someone can go and find unique and quality men’s goods from around the world without having to sort through pages and pages of options. We curated the range so you won’t have to.
Evolution of the brand
Our brand started with such a tiny range in retrospect, and we’ve built it up to a very healthy range, whilst sticking to our core values. We are also close to moving on the next phase of our business, being the ethical side of things. One thing I didn’t mention is we want to help men be better versions of themselves, be more like a classical gentleman in that they have respect for women and other people more so than nowadays, know life skills and basic skills, and men who are always trying to better themselves. This was part of the initial plan, and we hope to expand on that through courses and expeditions under the Gallantoro banner.
‘The Code’
We wanted to align the brand with our values, and one of the steps to that was to come up with a simplified code of what we believe a Gallantoro Man would live by. So after many calls and whiskey sours, we came up with the code and we try and live by it. We include a card with the code on it with every order we ship out.
COVID-19 & Gallantoro
We haven’t had an impact, at least not negatively. Online sales have maintained the upward trend we were noticing. The only adaptation is we’ve noticed an increase in survival type gear sales (firepits, flashlights, cooking equipment, so we have sourced a wider range of these products and brands).
We would ideally have expanded on our own range of products, be involved in our Gallantoro Adventure/Expedition, have a physical outlet and also launch the women’s version of our site.
Most popular categories and products
Our most popular categories and products slightly differ. Our most popular category would be leather goods for sure, as we really try and find nice, quality and unique leather goods (and now make our own here in Australia and by hand) but at the moment our most popular products are the uKegs.
A bit about the Hero Medal
The Hero Medal is fairly new and we’ve heard a couple of great stories thus far, I had the idea after listening to a podcast and hearing about the Carnegie medal awarded for bravery and courage, and realising we don’t have much of that here in Australia, but there are heroic acts happening every day that we don’t hear about.
7 things every man should own…
In no particular order
- an analogue dress watch
- good shoe polish
- high quality underwear
- an old pair of boots
- a pocket knife
- decanter
- a great kitchen knife
5 things on each the bucket list – Roger
- Learn to fly
- Visit Mt Teide to see the stars – https://vimeo.com/22439234
- Take my mum to New York
- Write a script
- Take my family on a trip around the world
3 men you admire and why…
Arnold Schwarzenegger for his unbridled determination and grit when against all odds, Dale Carnegie for his acumen and knowledge of the world when no one should have known any better, and my father.
Favourite piece from our Gentleman’s Essentials collection…
Always the duffle, because there is nothing I like more as a bag fiend than a practical and well made leather duffle of that quality, that will age and get better over years and years of use, whether it be for work, travel or even to the gym. They’re so practical. Love them and love yours!
Thanks guys. Continue creating and introducing us to many more amazing products and Gentleman’s essentials.
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