Shayne Tino recovers from 'Love Island' to serve the community

Having landed in Swan Hill from Zimbabwe, via New Zealand, in 2010, he started his trade schooling in Bendigo after finishing high school.

Last Friday the designer and "influencer" opened a streetwear shop stocking his own brand in Bendigo's CBD.

It is just one of a series of projects he hopes might come to fruition around town, ranging from community work with kids to a move into hospitality.

"Growing up I was always the shy kid," the 28-year-old says. "Even in high school, I was very shy, very reserved.

"It took me moving from Swan Hill to Bendigo to come out of my shell, and getting into DJ-ing helped me open up to people more."

Travelling back and forth between Swan Hill and Bendigo for trade school he had made new friends and found his way into the club scene, and after a while quit his apprenticeship and started promoting HuHa nightclub.

After manager Brad Smit taught him how to DJ, he started duo, Checkmate, with friend Coby Williams that developed a profile.

"Diversity wasn't really a big thing in Australia back then but ... having an African guy and an Australian guy together just created such a cool and unique brand at the time," Shayne says.

The popularity of the act led to an approach from streetwear brand Neverland, whose manager wanted them to wear its clothes to their gigs.

Following that introduction, a string of fashion industry career developments unfolded, from working in retail at Neverland then modelling for the brand to modelling for other companies.

"I became a very popular African Australian model," Shayne says. "I started to get booked for campaigns for Myer, campaigns for Industrie.

"I was being put on buses, on trains and train stations.

"I worked with brands like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger and it got to a point where I was being flown overseas for photoshoots and campaigns."

Modelling took him to Europe, Mexico, Central America and the US. He was flown to New York for fashion week and did a spread for Italian fashion magazine Grazia.

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But after three solid years as a model, two of them travelling constantly, he realised he wanted to work in the design side of the industry.

After a period back at Neverland in high-level marketing, through his girlfriend at the time he moved into making custom suits.

"I never was good at school ... but I'm a very hands-on person," he says. "My whole approach is watch and listen and learn."

The venture was a success and Shayne was in demand making suits for the like of singer Guy Sebastian, and on one occasion, American R&B artist Khalid, who was in Australia for the ARIAs.

In December 2019, he launched a new business, clothing label Rimagind, with his friend Flynn Hill.

Initially they intended to sell women's clothes but the advent of COVID saw them pivot to quality loungewear.

There were pop-up shops in Melbourne and a deal with David Jones.

And now Rimagind is available from the new Bath Lane shop in Bendigo.

As Shayne became more involved in design he lost interest in modelling but started to work as an "influencer", paid to create content for brands and promote it via his Instagram account.

Then there was reality TV.

In 2021 as COVID-19 continued to stifle life and business across the globe, Shayne agreed to appear in the program Love Island.

"It's not really like my personality to do something like that," he says. "But given the time and where the world was, I took the opportunity."

"I didn't love the show, I didn't love the experience.

"The best part of the whole thing was spending a month in Byron Bay and hanging out with everybody. They had a crew of about 300 people on set.

"We got to fish every day and exercise, and it was all quite interesting."

While he "met a couple of girls", unsurprisingly Shayne didn't come away from the show with a special someone.

In fact the experience cost him some of his clients.

"I had a campaign with Tiffany and Co which I had shot ... and they cancelled it," he says.

"That wasn't the image they wanted."

Despite that, the young entrepreneur has no regrets, and isn't lacking in clients.

He is a Samsung ambassador, is collaborating with Snap Fitness and has only recently returned from a trip to London for an InterContinental Hotels campaign.

"I'm very fortunate, very, very lucky," he says.

"I never thought being an influencer would be a full time career, let alone allow me to invest in property and other things."

In addition to the shop, the young entrepreneur has invested with his mother in a disability accommodation business in California Gully and the pair have talked about starting an African fusion restaurant.

Shayne is also interested in hospitality more generally, hopes to expand his streetwear business into more of a community and feels strongly about sharing his experience with kids.

"I've done a lot of community work over the last five years talking to kids within the Aboriginal community and the African community," he said.

"I'm very passionate about support work and giving any kind of experience I have back to young kids and young people in the community."

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