The twin brothers putting Australian fashion retail on the map
20 years ago, Brian and Vincent Wu quit their office jobs to open a boutique. Now, their store Incu is an internationally recognised shopping destination known for its fresh selection of zeitgeisty brands — and its presence is only continuing to grow.
In their 20 years of fashion retail experience, twin brothers Brian and Vincent Wu have witnessed their fair share of cultural shifts.
“When we first opened Incu, guys wouldn’t go shopping together. It was very rare to see two guys walk in to a shop and say to the other, ‘what do you think of this shirt?’” reflects Brian. Today, they see men shopping in groups all the time. “People are much more willing to express themselves.”
The Wus grin when they recall how shoppers responded to Incu becoming one of the first Australian retailers to carry the cult Swedish fashion brand Acne. “Everyone freaked out at first. They were like, ‘that’s a weird name’,” says Brian. “But then Acne opened their own store here, and so eventually it became much more normal.”
After starting their careers in IT, the twin brothers opened the first Incu store in Sydney’s The Galeries shopping centre in 2002. They dreamt of creating a beautiful space where office workers not unlike their former selves could escape the oppressive hum of corporate hustle culture, discover interesting fashion brands, meet like-minded people and leave feeling inspired — maybe even with a new outfit for the weekend.
“We were coming from a corporate background with an interest in fashion. But we weren’t fashionistas,” says Brian, who claims he’s “the more boring, business-minded guy.” Vincent, meanwhile, is the duo’s creative force.
“A lot of people think our first store was in Paddington, but it was actually [in] The Galeries. And we did that on purpose, because we knew that if we could bring a really good experience, and we created something that office staff could come and visit and escape from the corporate world, then we could create this community of people who liked fashion, even if they weren’t in fashion.”
Two decades on, and when it comes to being synonymous with Australian fashion retail, Incu’s neon orange branding is right up there with David Jones’s black and white houndstooth logo. The store takes its name from the word ‘incubation’, and it prides itself on not only growing the presence of international labels in the Australian market, but also supporting independent local brands.
While Incu has longstanding relationships with French brand A. P. C, New York-based label Rag & Bone and, of course, Acne, it’s also played a hand in introducing Aussie names like sustainable outfit Bassike, women’s resort favourite Matteau and cult streetwear brand Perks and Mini to its audience of local and international shoppers — it’s not uncommon for travellers to land in Australia and make Incu their first point of call for some retail therapy.
“The most exciting thing for us is finding a brand locally that is so good, it can sit alongside any of the international brands we sell,” offers Vincent.
Today, the Wu’s retail portfolio includes 9 Incu stores across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, in addition to four ‘mono brand’ spaces, which are stores dedicated to single label — one for A. P. C and three for Rag & Bone. The company also employs 255 staff across each location, including its architecturally-designed head office in the Sydney suburb of Rosebery.
In addition to withstanding global events that have shaken some of its contemporaries — the GFC, Covid-19 pandemic and the generally unpredictable terrain that is bricks and mortar fashion retail in Australia — Incu has managed to expand, evolve and thrive with the times.
“We’re very aware of how many multibrand [retailers] have closed recently,” says Vincent, referring to the type of fashion store that sells different brands, but typically selects and specialises in pieces that correspond with the store’s own aesthetic.
Since the pandemic, some of the world’s most respected multibrand retailers, like Bird in Brooklyn and Opening Ceremony in Downtown Manhattan, have shuttered their doors, citing the strain of the pandemic and a retail landscape that was shifting further and further online (both Bird and Opening Ceremony were known for offering unique in-store experiences).
“We always wonder how we still exist,” reflects Brian. “I think we’ve been very lucky, and we are constantly working on it.”
But the store has evolved without losing touch of the Wu’s original vision: to create a truly welcoming, well-designed space filled with an intelligent curation of zeitgeisty brands from the worlds of fashion and, more recently, lifestyle and design.
The twins put this down to a handful of factors. Firstly, the store’s curation is something that shoppers overwhelmed with the number of options available on popular online retailers have grown to trust and seek out when making an investment purchase.
“People can walk in and know that what we’ve got is an edit they feel comfortable with,” says Brian.
The store experience and design also plays a big role. Incu has partnered with buzzy Australian interior architecture studio Akin Atelier on a number of its clean, open-plan, blush pink and terrazzo-clad interiors — including its biggest space, the recently-renovated 526 square metre store in Melbourne’s Chadstone shopping complex — with the aim of creating a distinctly contemporary Australian ambience.
“We want people to come to Incu because it brings this unique Australian experience that you can’t get from, say, Dover Street Market in New York or London.”
Despite constant chatter of an economic downturn spurred on by rising costs of living, the brothers are confident that Incu is in a good place. Last month, it opened its first ever dedicated footwear and accessories space, right across from its original store in The Galeries.
The space will also stock a curation of homewares by Australian and international designers, including Sydney glassware brand Maison Balzac, boutique French soap brand Orris and Copenhagen-based textile brand Tekla, which makes striped towels and bedsheets beloved by the design world’s pre-eminent tastemakers.
“One of the things that Vinny and I dream of one day doing — and we‘ve talked about this for many, many years, is to do almost like a mini department store,” says Brian. “If you look at the set up of department stores, they have sections or ‘departments’ for shoes, accessories, homewares… and that’s what we’re trying to create.”
It’s an ambitious concept to modernise — the downfall of department stores has been reported for years, especially in the US, where most retail trends tend to begin. But the brothers say the new store format is a “natural evolution” for the business.
“We want to continually grow our footprints, rather than open many different stores. We want to give the product space because we’re multibrand, and we need these brands to have their own space. The long term vision is about offering things to our customers based on our understanding of their lifestyle, and that could mean homewares as well as fashion.”
“We always talk about balancing our company — the balance between creativity and uniqueness, but also being commercially viable. You don‘t want to be too boring and commercial, but you also don’t want to be too crazy that only one person in Australia likes it,” says Brian.
Ultimately, that space between conceptual and commercial is where Incu plays in — and they play well. It’s why people with corporate jobs, or students from nearby universities, feel just as comfortable visiting the space as members of the Australian fashion set.
As Incu moves beyond its 20th year in business and towards the ultimate vision of a modern department-style store, a couple of things are clear: there will be a world-class curation of exciting brands on offer, and everybody will be welcome.