Ben Roberts-Smith has entered the retail space, launching a clothing brand on Sunday as he faces a long legal fight and mounting public scrutiny.
The former SAS corporal and Victoria Cross recipient has unveiled EPIC 1 TWO, an online label selling T-shirts, hoodies and trucker hats, with prices ranging from $49 to $85 and a 10 per cent discount for military personnel.
The name is drawn from the radio call sign Roberts-Smith used during his military service.
In comments to news.com.au shortly before the launch, he described the project as both personal and practical.
“The whole premise of doing a brand, from my perspective, is to, one, I mean, I’ve gotta try and find some way to make money for my family,” Roberts-Smith told the publication.
The website frames the label as a brand “forged in adversity” and features Roberts-Smith modelling some of the items.
One shirt shows him in military gear, while another uses an image from his arrest earlier this year.
In a message to subscribers, Roberts-Smith linked that moment to the label’s imagery.
“The day I was arrested and escorted onto the tarmac, I had no idea the images would capture three words emblazoned on the aircraft behind me. Spirit of Australia,” he wrote.
Roberts-Smith had flagged the venture in recent days with sparse social media teasers built around the hashtags #underdog and #neveroutofthefight.
“Part of my reason for starting the brand is I’ve spent a decade trying not to do the media, and then finding that, you know, the millions of dollars they’ve made off my name during the defamation,” Roberts-Smith told news.com.au.
The launch comes as Roberts-Smith faces five counts of war crime murder over alleged conduct in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
He was arrested at Sydney Airport in April and later granted bail after spending nine days on remand at Silverwater Correctional Complex.
Roberts-Smith has consistently denied wrongdoing.
Roberts-Smith told news.com.au he does not intend to retreat from public view while waiting for the criminal matter to progress.
“I don’t put any time into people’s negative opinions, because I know the truth,” he said.
“I will keep fighting. Every one of these allegations, every one of those charges.”