Matt Thomas
Class of 1995
Class of 1995
Creative Director & Entrepreneur
At school Matt Thomas won the State School Pool Championship, and said that he wanted to become “a world class chef”.
Matt has not become a chef, but he did get involved in the hospitality industry.
After school he worked as a DJ, and at age 18 opened his first venue, ‘The Jazz Room’. He also opened ‘Bar Open’, and later still he he became a partner at nightspot ‘The Manor’ and cofounder of ‘Clarences Bar’ in Mount Lawley.
Matt is also the co-founder and Creative Director of streetwear boutique ‘High’s and Lows’, a business established in 2005 to serve the skateboarding D.I.Y. culture he so loved in his school days.
In describing the aim of the business Matt says “we have tried to champion the Australian sneaker community and to be a gold standard in retail and customer service”.
In a short period of time they have grown their retail space into an internationally recognised brand that has developed collaborations with such footwear and apparel powerhouses such as Adidas, ASICS, Reebok, Lacoste and Vans.
Establishing a brand in Western Australia, with its tiny population has been a challenging prospect, and it is a testament to Matt and his teams effort and vision that they have made ‘High’s and Lows’ the international success that it is.
In 2017 Matt was acknowledged by Business News as one of Western Australia’s 40 leading business entrepreneurs under the age of 40.
In 2017 ‘High’s and Lows’ were profiled as part of the the international exhibition ‘The Rise of Sneaker Culture’, at the Art Gallery of Western Australia.