Two years ago I was a Sydneysider living and working in Paddington, regularly frequenting the boutique strip on Oxford Street to empty my pockets and laden my wardrobe with goods aplenty. It’s always been difficult to resist the chic aesthetic of the Incu boutique and the treasures within.

Fast forward eighteen months after a move down south and the talk of the town was the imminent expansion of Brian and Vincent Wu’s boutique business to Melbourne’s Flinders Lane. This week Tangent had the honour of correspondence with these two mavericks in the business, who’ve shed a little light on a couple of projects both here and back home.

“We’ve always had this motto of ‘to inspire,’” says Vincent, when asked about the Incu mission statement. “We always aim to inspire through our our brands, our store experience, our service, etc. Incu stands for ‘incubate’ so we’ve always looked for brands that we can help nurture and grow within the local market.”

The pair were initially disillusioned by their previous jobs in I.T. “A clothing store was something that came up because we would travel a lot and would see these amazing spaces and thought it was lacking in Sydney.”

Now Melbourne can benefit from this expansion, with Incu Men’s Melbourne, a unique retail space just near the corner of Flinders Lane and Elizabeth Street here. Having done their research before opening, the boys know their customer base, and when asked about the Melbourne style aesthetic: “it’s definitely understated with a focus on detail and construction. We have noticed that customers are really interested in finding out the background of a particular brand and not just buying items because it might look good.”

In a recent and exciting development, Incu has teamed up with London’s infamous Topshop as part of the “Incu Presents” initiative at their Paddington location. “The main aim of this sub-brand was to create a platform whereby we can collaborate with brands/companies that we admire to elevate both parties’ presence in the marketplace. With Topshop, it was interesting to work with a mass market brand whilst retaining the qualities of Incu.”

Sadly, no news of this little gem drifting down south, but we can expect to see our favourites from over 40 mens collections including brands such as A.P.C., Paul Smith, Filippa K, Vanishing Elephant, Surface 2 Air, Nom De Guerre and Our Legacy. “We’re always looking for new projects but at the moment, we’re focusing on making sure that we maintain the same experience within our stores as when we first started.”

www.incuclothing.com