Watching The World Go By - Alessia and Massimo Acquaro, Founders of Observe
An Open Source Archive interview with Observe.
Renowned for their minimalist and timeless aesthetic, Observe has firmly rooted itself in Melbourne, its place of origin, while ambitiously eyeing global recognition. Alessia and Massimo Acquaro, the creative minds behind Observe, are unwavering in their dedication to upholding their vision and executing a long-term strategy that prioritises enduring quality over short-term trends. Their commitment offers a refreshing perspective in an industry often driven by rapid content consumption, highlighting their profound approach to sustainable fashion entrepreneurship. We thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and we hope you enjoy the read.
Alessia and Massimo’s background:
Alessia: I’m Alessia. I was always into fashion and design and I’ve never been shy in expressing my creative side but I found a lot of inspiration through Massimo. Massimo’s been quite interested in fashion from an early age so growing up together, I learned a lot from him. I took Visual Communication in year 12 and loved it. I picked up other creative subjects and went on to studying nursing in University but decided it just wasn't for me so then switched to advertising. I’m doing a communications course now which is so much better suited but my inspo and creativity has really come from family.
Massimo: I completed my undergraduate in Architecture in Melbourne and I've been doing my masters for the last two years and that isn't directly related to fashion but you're surrounded by people that are obsessed with aesthetics and it influences the way you see things. Studying form and function in Architecture has really influenced my creative process of designing garments. I used to also write a music magazine and that was probably my first taste of doing something creative. Putting hard copy issues together and getting to talk to people like we are now was super inspiring as well so Alessia has basically been on that journey with me and we thought “let's do something together”. We combined our experiences and that’s where we are today, running Observe.
How Observe was founded:
Massimo: The meaning of “Watching the World go by” is genuinely something we love doing—taking inspiration from observing our surroundings and the world around us. That’s how the name Observe and the ethos of “Watching The World Go By” came about. It also links together with the way that we design—we keep things very simple and minimal. Appreciating details rather than doing something extravagant or following a trend. We stay in our lane and trust our instincts. We trust that what we’re doing is going to get us to the place that we want to be.
Alessia: We didn’t want to follow that traditional pathway of finishing school, going to uni and then getting a 9-5 job. We both had a talent and both wanted to create so it was a natural step towards creating a life we wanted for ourselves. Our dad and grandparents are/were also business owners themselves and we saw that flexibility in their lifestyles that we wanted so family has been a huge influence for us in creating Observe.
Thoughts on following trends:
Alessia: That discussion about risk taking and what our next steps forward would be—that's when I said to Massimo “why don't we keep going with the jumpers and tracksuits” because those were the things that were trending at the time. Admittedly we did follow trends (in our own cool way) for the first couple of years. But we realised that following trends was not a sustainable way of running a clothing brand so we decided to take more risks in our designs. Financially, it would be great for a certain period of time (to follow trends) but we didn’t feel it was something we could sustain for years and years. A friend once said to us that you’ll get to a point in the brand where you no longer have to design for others. You’ll have the privilege of designing things that you truly want to.
Massimo: When you’re starting a brand, usually you've got to do something that's going to put you in a financial position that allows you to do what you want to do later. That was a conscious decision that Alessia and I made—we needed to source that revenue to be able to then do what we want. After that two year mark, our next collection only had one loop back hoodie so we've moved completely away from that and now we’re putting together collections that are involving a range of different materials, fabrics and products. For us it’s really important to question whether what we’re doing is respectable. Now, layering is the most important thing for us–to be able to put an entire outfit together where you can layer all pieces at once seamlessly instead of that one tracksuit.
How Up There Store became a stockist of Observe:
Massimo: I was applying for a job at Up There Store so I could gain some experience in the industry for Observe but they had no vacancies at the time. I asked for some advice on our work (this was just after our first proper collection was released) and they really liked it. Generally you need to have your collections and prices set for retailers to see six to seven months prior to getting any stock into stores so we were six months late—there was no chance of anything happening but they said they’d give us a shot. They put us in the store and it sold out within 3 months and now we’ve done 4 collections with them. Our stock is consistently selling out and they’re asking for more which is amazing to see. These opportunities aren't going to land at your doorstep—you've got to put yourself in a position where you feel uncomfortable and give yourself opportunities to connect with people.
Biggest attributers to brands success:
Massimo: One massive thing that differentiates us is the professionalism that we hold ourselves to—everything from our website and the way that we take our photos to the way Alessia runs any of our social media. There are brands that have blown up with the use of TikTok, doing BTS footage and showing insights into the brand but we feel as though (maybe a controversial way of thinking) it reveals too much into the process. We want that element of mystery and people anticipating what's going on. The brands that we look up to who are dominating the fashion space (the likes of APC) operate with a high level of professionalism that we want to operate by. Why should we compromise on our vision and use methods of marketing and growth that makes us feel like a small business? We’re an Australian brand but why should we let that stop us from acting like a European brand? We know this might mean that it will take longer for us to grow but that’s an investment we’re willing to make to create a timeless brand.
Alessia: I feel this is what the likes of Up There see in us. We don’t succumb to the pressure of following trends if it doesn’t align with our vision. Even the way that we caption our Instagram posts, what we say in our bio, and reposting people's stories—we want to keep it professional and minimal. People respect that. Everything's carefully thought about—we’ll text each other and say “get that off the story, it doesn't look good” or “change the caption, put everything in caps”. We're very particular and that's where Massimo’s eye for detail comes in handy. Everything we've done so far has been done by us (because we're control freaks), which I think has contributed to the success of Observe. We stick to the process, be patient and trust in our vision.
Dream for the brand:
Massimo: The goal that we're seeing at the moment is to have retailers around the world that stock Observe and we feel we can do that in the next three to four years. We’re getting collections ready to be able to achieve that and present ourselves at Paris fashion week. The collection was ready to present this year but there were some issues with the showrooms because of the Olympics happening so we’ll be there next January which will be the first step of that journey.
Alessia: People are quite surprised when we tell them we’re going to Paris for Observe so early into the brand's journey but to us we aren’t doing anything special. We haven’t made it to the stage we want to be yet so we’re putting ourselves out there. It might even turn out that nobody comes to view our rack but the point is that we’re giving ourselves these opportunities and putting ourselves in the best position to achieve our goals.
A question for the next brand we interview:
A question we’d like to ask is how other brands go about posting tasteful content that is pushed by social media algorithms to increase brand outreach. We’d love to hear how other brands approach this without taking inauthentic approaches.
To conclude, here’s a little summary of our thoughts and feelings:
The pillar of Observe’s success is undoubtably due to the unique creative vision and hard work that both Alessia and Massimo have put into the brand. They’ve built a mentality that manifests Observe as a world-class brand that’s European-esque. Over the past four years, they’ve been through a multitude of experiences and challenges and it seems that the brand has built a great foundation as they look to exciting times like displaying their work at Paris Fashion Week in January of 2025.
One thing that stands out though, is the simple and logical path they’ve taken to get their brand to where it is today—a plan executed perfectly (that wasn’t planned). Take NOTHING away from their dedication and hard work (among other amazing things) they’ve both poured into the brand, but let’s take a look at a simplified view of their journey:
create a brand ethos that will be a constant in the brands journey
create pieces that have a high chance of selling to generate revenue—perhaps items that are trending at the time
once a solid consumer base and cash flow has been built, slowly start to create and introduce pieces that are more appealing to you (the brand owner)—a chance to move away from items that were simply for initial revenue
filter out the pieces from your collections that were only introduced to generate initial revenue
continue to build on new ideas/aesthetics—maintain the original brand ethos
Observe’s journey gives us a blueprint (of sorts) to a great way of building a fashion brand. Note that simply following trends is not where you’ll find success in the beginning. As Alessia mentioned in the interview, it still needs to be executed in a tasteful way. Why would someone purchase your items when there are hundreds of other brands doing the same thing? We’ll leave you with that for now.
Where you can find Observe: Website | Instagram
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