Who Founded Alémais? Lesleigh Jermanus and the Brand’s History

Alémais was founded by Australian designer Lesleigh Jermanus, who launched the label in Sydney in 2020 after 16 years designing for Australian brands including Marcs, Nicholas and, most recently, Zimmermann. She runs it as co-founder and creative director with her husband and co-founder, Chris Buchanan. The label is known for original prints, patchwork and artisanal embroidery and beading, and Jermanus was named Designer of the Year at the 2024 Australian Fashion Laureate.

The name is written with an accent, Alémais, though it is often searched as “Alemais”. This is the short history of the brand and the designer behind it, with what we could verify from the brand’s own pages and published interviews.

Alémais at a glance

• Founder and creative director: Lesleigh Jermanus, a fine arts graduate with more than 20 years in fashion design.
• Co-founder: Chris Buchanan, Jermanus’s husband.
• Founded: 2020, in Sydney, Australia. Inside Retail dates the launch to August 2020; the brand’s own impact reporting counts from 2021.
• Before Alémais: 16 years as a designer at Australian labels including Marcs, Nicholas and Zimmermann.
• Signature: original prints, patchwork (the brand calls it spliced), embroidery, beading and crochet on relaxed silhouettes.
• Awards: 2022 National Designer Award, presented by David Jones at the Melbourne Fashion Festival, plus the inaugural People’s Choice Award; Australian Fashion Laureate Emerging Designer of the Year, then Designer of the Year in 2024.
• Sustainability commitments: a tree planted for every garment sold, organic cotton and other preferred materials, and fully digital printing, according to the brand.

Who is the Alémais designer?

The Alémais designer is Lesleigh Jermanus. The brand describes itself as her creative expression, and she studied fine arts before moving into fashion. According to Inside Retail, she spent 16 years as a designer at Australian labels including Marcs and Nicholas, and most recently Zimmermann, before starting her own. A profile in Surface magazine adds that she spent years working with makers and artisans in Vietnam and Kenya, an experience that shaped the brand’s later focus on handwork.

Jermanus has said her design process begins with an artwork or a colour she feels drawn to. She launched Alémais with her husband, Chris Buchanan, who is co-founder.

Who founded Alémais, and when?

The answer to who founded Alémais is Lesleigh Jermanus, with co-founder Chris Buchanan. The label launched in 2020, which Inside Retail places in August of that year. Some sources, including the brand’s own impact page and the Art Gallery of New South Wales biography of Jermanus, use 2021, which is the year Alémais counts its collections and reporting from.

Alémais is based in Sydney. David Jones bought its first collection, according to Inside Retail, and the label later reached Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Harvey Nichols and Le Bon Marché, as well as Net-a-Porter and Mytheresa online. Our guide to where to buy Alémais covers stockists by country.

The Zimmermann connection

Jermanus’s years at Zimmermann are the reason the two Sydney labels are so often compared. Both work in print, both design for a long summer, and both sell widely in the United States and Europe. The difference is emphasis: Zimmermann is known for romantic, fitted silhouettes and lace, while Alémais leans into relaxed shapes, patchwork and craft. Our Zimmermann vs Alémais comparison sets out the differences in fit, fabric and occasion, and the Zimmermann history tells the other half of the story. For a third Australian point of comparison, see Aje vs Alémais.

Prints, patchwork and artisanal craft

The brand’s own description calls its wardrobe one of optimistic prints, patchworks and embroideries, and that is a fair summary. Alémais says it works with artists and craftspeople around the world. Surface reports that it partners with a different artist each season, and the brand’s impact page counts 14 artist collaborations and more than 6,000 artisanal pieces made across 58 styles since 2021.

You can see the range of techniques in the current collection. Beading appears on evening pieces such as the Ceremony Beaded Gown and the Lumira Sequin Gown, while the Bijou Embroidered Gown and the Rosemary Embroidered Gown put embroidery on full-length shapes. In daywear, the Strike Embroidered Midi Dress, the Checkers Embroidered Mini Dress and the Dusty Embroidered Fitted Shirt carry the same handwork.

Patchwork, which the brand names “spliced”, runs through the Hotel Lamu Spliced Shirtdress and the Clemenza Spliced Genie Pant, and the Strike Patchwork Stripe Shirt applies it to stripes. Texture is the other signature: crochet on the Marva Crochet Top, quilting on the Harmonia Quilted Short, cording on the Leandra Corded Relaxed Shirtdress and embellishment on the Sea Star Embellished Knit Top.

Collaborations and awards

Alémais won the National Designer Award in 2022, presented by David Jones at the Melbourne Fashion Festival, and the inaugural People’s Choice Award at the same event. At the Australian Fashion Laureate, Jermanus first won Emerging Designer of the Year and then, in 2024, Designer of the Year, at a ceremony held at Bennelong in the Sydney Opera House.

Outside its seasonal artist partnerships, the best-documented brand collaboration is with Go-To, the Australian skincare label founded by Zoe Foster Blake, for its 2023 summer holiday collection of gifts and sets. The brand’s impact page also names community partners, including Two Good and Cancer Chicks.

Sustainability claims, and what the brand reports

Alémais describes itself as a brand with purpose, aiming to reduce its environmental impact and to treat suppliers with honesty and respect. Its impact page reports, in the brand’s own figures, that it funded the planting of around 600,000 trees between 2021 and 2024 by planting a tree for every garment sold. It says that in 2024 preferred materials made up 75% of its products by weight, 72% of its cotton was organic and less than 5% of its fibre was synthetic, and that all of its printing is digital.

These are self-reported figures, and the page does not name an external certification. They are still more detailed than many brands of its size publish. For context on where Alémais sits in the market, read is Alémais a luxury brand?, and for similar labels, brands like Alémais.

Alémais around the world

Australia

Australia is the brand’s largest search market, and its home. Alémais shows on Australian sizing, from AU 4 to AU 16, and its summer collection lands in Australian spring. It sits among the labels in our Australian fashion brands guide.

United States

The US is almost as large by searches, and the brand has been stocked at Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s. US sizes are the AU number minus four, so an AU 8 is a US 4, and the brand prints both on its labels. See the Alémais size guide for the full chart.

United Kingdom and Europe

The UK is the third market by searches. Inside Retail lists Harvey Nichols among the brand’s stockists, and Le Bon Marché in Paris in Europe. UK sizes match AU sizes, and an AU 8 is an EU 36. Because the seasons are reversed, the brand’s summer pieces arrive in the northern autumn.

What to read next

To shop by piece, start with our guides to Alémais shirts and shirtdresses, Alémais pants and shorts, Alémais dresses by colour and Alémais mini, midi and maxi dresses. The full range is on our Alémais brand page.

Alémais history: common questions

Who founded Alémais?

Alémais was founded by Australian designer Lesleigh Jermanus, who is creative director, with her husband Chris Buchanan as co-founder. The label is based in Sydney.

When was Alémais founded?

Alémais launched in 2020; Inside Retail dates it to August 2020. The brand’s own impact reporting and some biographies use 2021, the year it counts its collections from.

Did the Alémais designer work at Zimmermann?

Yes. Lesleigh Jermanus spent 16 years designing for Australian labels including Marcs and Nicholas, and most recently Zimmermann, before founding Alémais.

Is Alémais an Australian brand?

Yes. Alémais is an Australian label based in Sydney, and it sizes its clothes on the AU/UK ladder with US sizes printed alongside.

What is Alémais known for?

Alémais is known for original prints, patchwork, embroidery and beading on relaxed silhouettes, often made with artisans and in partnership with a different artist each season.

Is Alémais sustainable?

Alémais reports that it plants a tree for every garment sold, that 72% of its cotton was organic in 2024 and that all its printing is digital. These are the brand’s own figures and are not tied to a named external certification.

What awards has Alémais won?

Alémais won the 2022 National Designer Award and People’s Choice Award at the Melbourne Fashion Festival, and Lesleigh Jermanus was named Designer of the Year at the 2024 Australian Fashion Laureate.