SARAH HARRIS: So firstly, tell us about how it all started – from you and Nikki finding gaps in your own wardrobe for things you were looking to buy and wear.

SOPHIE COOTE: I ended up moving to LA and pursued styling for about a year, which was a good foundation for realising what I didn’t want to do, because I just felt like at that time, for me, I really wanted to go into more the business side of things and so I came home from LA. Nikki had been working for a brand, and we came up with a concept of this minimalist wardrobe, summer essentials, and that was where the birth of the brand was at the time. We really only did linen, natural fabrications, all white and black.

SH: I remember it was all white and black, wasn’t it?

SC: Yeah, and no one was, well at that time, using linen as a fabrication like that. When we started selling into the US, people weren’t necessarily using it in the way that we were. I think that moment and that point of difference was what people really saw as that distinctive Australian resortwear aesthetic, so that’s sort of where the idea was born.

SH: Where did the name SIR. come from, and why did you choose that and not your own names?

SC: SIR. was very much this idea of, as a woman, you can dress in a masculine way some days, in a feminine way some days, and sometimes you want to dress with a masculine look on the bottom and a feminine look on the top. I think it’s kind of our styling, even though we’ve developed into more detailing and prints and all of those sorts of things, I think there’s a minimalist, almost masculine feel to some of the pieces. That’s where the name came from, and we constantly have that tension between homme and femme with how we shoot the content and so that was how the whole concept came to be.

SH: What was the biggest, earliest hit for the brand? Was it a single product, or was it a kind of realisation that you and Nikki had, or was it, you know, a moment?

SC: We started working with a creative team in Australia, actually, and we did some really big photo shoots that were kind of unheard of at the time. I think people were spending more money on traditional things like shows and stuff like that.

We did this one photo shoot, and four muses and it was kind of this really witchy, magical, very much like this sisterhood vibe which we shot out at Kangaroo Valley. It was that moment of having these models on this set with this huge production team.

To this day, they’re some of my favorite photos, and I think that photo shoot was one of the moments. Straight after that we went into market and it just sort of all started from that moment.

I think at that time people weren’t spending money on shoots and doing things like that, so it felt like a bit of a bold move in a time where people probably wouldn’t have been doing that, or following more of a traditional model.

SH: I like that you say that, about how sort of crucial it is to sort of have that brand ID, I guess, which is what that shoot essentially was. It’s like this is who we are, this is who a woman is, this is the lifestyle, this is the mood, this is the feel.

SC: Yes, 100%.

SH: What do you think people now want from a store? We’re so used to screens in digital and online shopping, is it that you think that people crave now when it comes to retail, and when it comes to that sort of store experience?

SC: I think things are so oversaturated now. When we first started with Instagram, everything was organic. I think now it’s almost shifting back to that in-person experience.

People are quite desensitised, so having a physical space for people to actually come in, see our girls, have them talk to product, talk to the quality, and also just to see things hanging.

We did like a little bookstore concept in our stores, moments where people actually come in and experience a brand where they don’t even have to purchase, it’s more an emotional thing of connecting to us and having experiences.

I think that experiential journey is so important at the moment, and people are valuing it so much because there’s so much noise.

SH: Yeah, and just that idea of sort of feeling connected to something, relationships, and that kind of human connection.

SH: When it comes to thinking about what’s next for SIR., how do you decide what not to do?

SC: Nikki and I, in the beginning, absolutely said yes to everything. Intention is so important, and so easy to say yes, and it did contribute to our growth, but it did almost send our team into a spiral.

Now every decision is so considered. The things we do, we do well, because we take the time to make sure that they’re done well, and the team has the bandwidth to do it.

I think it’s actually making the right decisions in the right direction for you and the brand, because otherwise you compromise yourself as well.

SH: Sorry, one more question – what do you think is the most important thing, or the most useful tool for you and the brand?

SC: To be honest, it’s kind of all of it. I feel like the word of mouth thing for us, especially in our initial growth, was everything.

We gifted so many of those top girls and they would wear it, like eight months later, and we’d sell out of it. Or even girls in their own micro communities, talking about it, wearing it.

If I know they love it, they’re gonna wear it, and they’re going to tell their friends about it. I think our natural evolution was that in the beginning and I still think it has so much validity.

If I see someone wearing something beautiful, I’ll be like, what is that, where is it from, and I think that really works.