While there are now a plethora of female Indigenous fashion designers and brands in the fashion world, there are few labels on the runway for men.

This could all change with the launch of a new men's swimwear label, Gali.

Founded by Kamilaroi and volunteer surf lifesaver David Leslie, Gali - which means water in Kamilaroi - was born out of his combined love for water and culture.

The debut collection features four different artistic designs on budgie smugglers by artist Jasmine Miikika Craciun and Warlukurlangu Artists Kenneth Jungarrayi Martin, Pauline Napangardi Gallagher, and Ingrid Napangardi Williams.

Leslie said the numerous lockdowns in Gadigal (Sydney) are what finally gave birth to his dream.

"When you're patrolling on the beach you see a lot of people in different swimwear and there's also a lot of deadly female First Nations brands that are kind of out there," he said.

"And then about 12 months ago during lockdowns, I thought I better start putting pen to paper and give the idea a bit of a crack."

Model and dancer Rikki Mason in a Gali campaign. Photo credit: Joshua Howlett.

Gali's launch campaign was shot by Indigenous photographer, Palawa man Josh Howlett and featured Bangarra dancer Rikki Mason donning the different budgie smugglers in the collection.

Gali functions both as a sustainable swimwear brand and as a social enterprise.

All pieces are created with recycled materials, the packaging and labels are made from recycled products, and one dollar of every product sold is donated to community-led projects.

Leslie said Gali is his opportunity to give back to community.

"I started my career working for World Vision Indigenous programs and part of my role there was doing marketing and fundraising for community-led projects," he said.

"To me it's important that we're not just collaborating with the artists that I'm actually giving back directly to the artists community.

"One dollar from every product sold goes back to the artist's community or the artist nominates a charity for the money to be given back to."

Leslie said ensuring he's creating products which help preserve the environment is just as important as creating a product he loves.

"If we don't actually care for Country, we pay the price," he said.

"It's always been important for me, not just as a business.

"You look at a lot of the environmental impacts that are happening at the moment...and it's like if you don't actually care for the country then we're going to see all these types of changes."

Leslie said despite only just launching pre-orders, he's received overwhelming positive feedback from mob.

He's now looking at expanding his product range to include shorts and developing a new summer marketing campaign.

Gali is available for pre-order through their website.