Hangin' with Mrs Cooper
Last year was one of Cooper's busiest years to date. With the arrival of her Trelise Cooper Kids brand and an increase in sales from the Northern Hemisphere, Cooper has scarcely had the time to take stock of all she has achieved.
"That's one thing I am aiming to do this year," she says. "I need to do it. I need to step back from the day to day aspects of the business and spend more time focusing on designing, coming up with new ideas and working on the brand."
Cooper's story is well known. Having already established her own stores in Auckland and Wellington, complete with a loyal customer following, she decided to give it all away to become a stay at home mum after the much anticipated birth of her son Jasper.
In 1997 she took the plunge again with the support of her husband, textile importer Jack Cooper, and reopened in Auckland. Almost immediately the concept took off. After years of minimally styled clothing dominating fashion trends, Cooper's ultra feminine, unapologetically romantic designs hit a nerve.
"My whole aim in setting up this business was to have self expression as a woman; to create a woman's space in my working and selling environment; to do what I absolutely, passionately love which is creating clothing," she says.
"Self satisfaction is a big driver for me, I want to come to work and be happy. I believe my clothes reflect my happiness and I hope my clothes give women permission to be truly who they are."
Not even she could imagine just how popular Trelise Cooper would become.
"I had a big belief in what I was doing and some fantastic customers, but I never stopped for a moment to think it would or could get this big when I began."
And big it is. She employs 75 staff at her plush New Market headquarters but most of her manufacturing is done offshore because she says there just isn't the infrastructure here to produce large volumes.
"The manufacturers here just can't cope with the numbers we are doing and keep our price point competitive. One of my skirts this season has 18 metres of silk in it. If I had that made here I wouldn't be able to sell it because it would be too expensive. On the other hand it has been difficult finding quality manufacturers offshore who will take smaller orders when they are used to making 20,000 units of one garment. It's a fine balancing act."
While there are only three retail stores, the brands, Trelise Cooper, Cooper, Trelise Cooper Kids and Trelise Cooper Lingerie are sold globally. She has a prestigious place on the fashion floor at David Jones and her clothes have been Meeting with buyers during Tranoi in Paris and at New York Fashion Week has meant Cooper has also "I met this most wonderful woman who as eight stores in Greece and she spent $100,000 with us on her first order. I also have the odd stockist in South Africa, Ireland and another in San Tropez. It's exciting to think about my label in places like that. It could end up anywhere in the world."
Australia remains her biggest market though. Just on 44 percent of her total sales are made here and she is one of the top sellers at David Jones.
"I love Australia and Australians," she says wholeheartedly. "The Australian market has been very good to me and we have grown it there every season and there is still a lot of potential for us."
Cooper says the reason she has been so successful in Australia is because she is very clear about who the Trelise Cooper woman is.
"My customer is looking for directional fashion that she can wear and feel confident and good in. She is comfortable in her own skin, she likes something that has a point of difference but isn't going to make her look stupid and she likes to be surprised and surprising every season. She loves detail and colour and personality and clothes which will make her look great if she is size 6 or a size 16."
Another reason is because her stockists buy broadly and deeply and are able to translate the brand philosophy to their customers well.
"I have a wonderful relationship with them all. They know what I am about and I know what they are about and it works well for everyone."
But having such prominence at David Jones has really been the springboard for her Australian success.
"They are a nationwide retailer so they can give a presence all over Australia and it's great for branding. They have very high profile advertising campaigns which we are a part of and my business with them increases every season and every year. We have become like one big family and they are great."
She now has North America firmly in her sights.
"I do have some wonderful stores there but there is so much potential for all the brands. If I had the resources to be opening any more stores, and by resources I mean people as well as financial, then I would probably concentrate on Los Angeles and New York."
Despite the etherealness of her designs Cooper is nothing if not a realist and an astute business woman. She knows that to really crack the highly competitive US market she needs to go in guns blazing.
She was set to show at New York Fashion Week last September but pulled out at the last minute on the advice of her press agent.
"They said to me that in order for me to put on the show that I wanted I needed a lot more time and preparation to get it together. Doing a show there is such a big deal that you can't do anything fast or by the seat of your pants. You need to get it exactly right the first time otherwise you'll never get those influential people back to take another look at you. I have made the strategic decision to wait until I can put my best foot forward but I would love to do it this year."
In the meantime she will be focusing on consolidation.
"All of my brands have undergone a lot of growth, especially Kids, and I really need to ensure we keep control of that. I do have lots and lots of other ideas for things - so many sometimes I just can't stop them from coming - but I do need to be more disciplined. At the end of the day though I don't look at what I am doing as a business - for me it's a lifestyle and the line between business and personal time is blurred. It's me and I live and breathe it. Life is about doing what you love and to me this just doesn't feel like work."