ROD HENSHAW catches up with a Canberra character, the irrepressible Pat Seears, these days the high-flying king of workwear, but it wasn’t always like this…

He is only half joking when he tells me he was kicked out of his Cooma family home, one too many mouth to feed, when he was 17. 

It’s a story I’ve heard several times over the years I’ve known Pat Seears and it’s part of a life journey that has fascinated me for some time.

This time, however, differs vastly from our previous get-togethers when our conversations have been accompanied by copious draughts of libation, on those occasions where a small group of mates meet over lunch every so often.

For this account, we’re sitting in his Seears Workwear office in Barrier Street, Fyshwick, at 10 in the morning. From a small start in Canberra he has built his company into a leading supplier of workwear in Australia, with major outlets in Queensland and NSW and is known locally for his television ads that end with his signature line, “Know ya know!” 

Life was good but, sadly, it wasn’t to last.

“It all changed when my father (Bernie) got cancer and died when he was only 40,” says Pat.

“We couldn’t afford to stay there so we had to move into town. It was a big shock to leave all that and come into a little place in Cooma.

“We were devastated and we had no money. Things were bad.

“I ended up going to a Catholic school there. I don’t think poor old mother ever had any money to pay the fees, but the nuns there accepted it and took us on. But things were bad.”

Even today, the memories of those hardships linger with Pat. But he is quick to acknowledge a positive side.

“I reckon that going through a hard time when you’re young like we were, when you’ve got nothing, you strive harder to actually prove something with your life. I reckon it’s got a lot to do with the way I’ve ended up.”

So was he really kicked out of home? In reality, that description is a little harsh.

“I was about 17. Poor old mother said to me, ‘son, I really can’t afford to keep you here’. I was the second eldest and the other boys were still at school,” he says.

“So, Christmas, 1971, I packed up and hitchhiked to Canberra.”

With no set plan and very little money, Pat managed to rent a room at the old Ainslie Hostel. He still remembers his room number, J9.

He wasted no time finding a job as a brickie’s labourer in one of the first suburbs to be established in Belconnen. There was only one way to get to work.

“I would walk from Ainslie to Weetangera and Aranda to go to work. For $3 a night at Ainslie, you got breakfast. I never got breakfast; I had to leave too early,” he says.

“By the time you got to work, you were knocked up already. It wasn’t easy.”

After learning to lay bricks, he enrolled in a technical college, obtained a certificate from the Department of Education, which enabled him to train apprentices. 

He went out on his own sub-contracting around Canberra for about 14 years and was doing quite well until the taxman paid a visit.

“We had a couple of houses because we were all in the building game and we built them,” he says.

“They said ‘you can’t have all this’ and hit me with a big bill. I said bugger this, I’m not going to keep working like this for these sorts of results.

“I was always interested in business and I got the opportunity to get involved in the workwear industry, so I went from there.”

With a business partner, they opened a small shop in Paragon Mall in Fyshwick but after 14 years, the two decided to go their respective ways. 

“My partner bought me out and I (eventually) started here in Barrier Street in 2002.”

Now, 23 years later, The Seears Workwear brand has expanded to include a shop at Penrith, an interest in a shop at Gosford and probably his biggest enterprise, the Workwear Hub at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast, an online outlet employing 50 people.

Outside of work and family, Pat’s two passions are aviation and motor racing. His fascination with aircraft goes back to his childhood and in the late 1980s he finally bit the bullet and learnt to fly. His grandson has inherited the aviation bug.

“Lachlan’s got his full unrestricted licence, so we do a bit of flying together. I love it.”

With motorsport, he’s not just an avid enthusiast, he’s put his money where his passion lies, sponsoring racing drivers over the years, including Matthew (Matty) Hart back in his Formula 4 days.

“I also got involved with Queanbeyan driver Cameron Hill. He went on to win the Porsche Cup and now he’s in Supercars, driving for Stone Brothers Racing,” he says.

If Pat’s not out of town on business, you can bet he’s away at a motor racing meeting somewhere – and that’s not just confined to Australia.

“My old man loved cars, and I spend as much time as I possibly can going to car races,” he says unashamedly.

For a kid “kicked out of home” at 17, Pat’s done well. Just how well, he’s coy about it except to concede it will be quite a few years yet before his name appears on Australia’s Top 250 Rich List.

“It’s not about the money, it’s more about achievement,” he says.

Son Shane has become a key part of the business and while Pat still turns up for work at 6 every morning, Shane shares a lot of the responsibility in running the show on a day-to-day basis. 

Pat also believes Shane’s son Lachlan will probably follow in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps eventually, thus ensuring generational continuity well into the future.

So, when it comes to Pat Seears, now ya know… the bigger story!