By Alva Ree
From Bali to Los Angeles, Sofi&Co Family is building its identity around a simple idea: fashion should be able to keep up with the woman wearing it.
Founded by Sofiia Shcherbakova, the Bali-born label brings together activewear, swimwear, resortwear and statement pieces designed around freedom, femininity and comfort. On August 16, the brand made its Los Angeles Swim Week debut in Bel Air with “The Other Side of Fear,” a ten-look presentation exploring identity, vulnerability and the versions of ourselves we create for protection.
Ahead of the Los Angeles presentation, we spoke with Shcherbakova about why comfort can be powerful, the philosophy behind clothes for women who actually live in them, and what she hopes audiences will discover on “The Other Side of Fear.”
Your brand is often described through words like freedom, confidence and individuality. Who is the Sofi&Co Family woman to you?
She is a woman who is living rather than watching.
I don’t define her by age, nationality, profession or even by a particular body type. For me, it is about energy. She is curious. She travels, works, trains, falls in love, makes mistakes, changes direction and starts over. She is not afraid of having a real life.
I have never wanted to design clothes for women who are supposed to stand still. I want our pieces to become part of their experiences.
The Sofi&Co Family woman can be incredibly feminine and still be physically strong. She can love beautiful things and still want comfort. She can wear something sexy without feeling that she has to sacrifice her freedom in order to look beautiful.
Comfort is an unusual word for a brand that creates such body-conscious pieces. Why is it so important to you?
Because I think comfort is underestimated.
People sometimes hear “comfortable” and imagine something basic or invisible. I see it completely differently. When you are truly comfortable in your clothes, you stop thinking about them. You stop adjusting yourself. You stop asking, “Can I sit like this? Can I walk like this? Does this look okay?”
And suddenly you have all of that energy back.
You walk differently. You communicate differently. You become more present.
That is confidence.
For me, great clothing shouldn’t control the woman. It should support her. The woman should always be more interesting than the dress.
Sofi&Co Family combines swimwear, activewear and resortwear rather than staying in one traditional fashion category. Was that intentional?
Completely.
Look at how women actually live today. We don’t live in categories.
You can train in the morning, have lunch with somebody important, spend the afternoon working, go to the beach and then meet friends for dinner. You can wake up in Bali and be on a plane to another country that evening.
Why should clothing pretend that our lives are more organized than they really are?
I like pieces that can exist between worlds. There is something modern about that. It reflects the woman we are designing for.
Would you say the brand is designed for brave women?
Yes, but I think bravery is much broader than people imagine.
You don’t have to do something dramatic or dangerous to be brave.
Maybe your version of courage is starting your own company. Maybe it is moving to another country alone. Maybe it is ending a relationship. Maybe it is beginning one. Maybe it is getting your body strong again. Maybe it is walking into a room where you feel completely out of place and deciding you belong there anyway.
I am fascinated by women who choose life even when something scares them.
That is actually where the idea behind our Los Angeles collection begins.
Your Los Angeles Swim Week collection is called “The Other Side of Fear.” Why fear?
Because everyone understands it.
Fear is universal, but it wears different costumes.
Sometimes it looks like insecurity. Sometimes perfectionism. Sometimes procrastination. Sometimes staying in a comfortable situation for too long because you are afraid of what comes next.
We wanted to explore the idea that fear is not necessarily a wall. Sometimes it is a door.
There may be something incredible on the other side of it, but you have to walk through.
That is the emotional story behind the collection.
Masks played an important role in the presentation. What did they represent?
The identities we create to protect ourselves.
We all have them.
There is the perfect woman, the successful woman, the woman who doesn’t care, the woman who never needs anyone, the woman who is always confident.
Sometimes these identities help us survive certain periods of our lives. But eventually you have to ask yourself: Is this actually me, or is this the person I learned to become because I was afraid?
That is what the masks represent.
And there is an interesting relationship between masks and fashion because clothing can also be used to hide.
But clothing can liberate you too.
That contradiction is something I find very beautiful.
What did audiences see in Bel Air on August 16?
The presentation featured ten looks combining elements of swimwear, resortwear and activewear, but I hoped the audience would experience them as one story rather than ten separate outfits.
There was femininity and sensuality, but also strength and freedom.
I wanted the presentation to evolve emotionally. The clothes are important, obviously, but so are the bodies inside them, the masks and the transformation.
Hopefully, by the end, people understood that “The Other Side of Fear” is not really only about clothes.
It is about freedom.
How much of Bali remains present as the brand reaches international audiences?
So much.
Bali teaches you a different relationship with your body and with clothing. Life there constantly shifts between the ocean, nature, work, training, restaurants and travel. Things can be beautiful without being overly formal.
That freedom became part of our DNA.
I also think Bali helped shape my understanding that femininity and strength can exist completely naturally together.
You can be soft and extremely strong. You can be sensual and athletic. You can care about beauty and still be adventurous.
I don’t like telling women they have to choose one version of themselves.
And now you are taking that Bali philosophy to Bel Air.
Exactly, and I love the contrast.
Bali has this natural, almost instinctive freedom. Los Angeles has ambition, visibility, cinema, entertainment and reinvention.
So you have Bali and Los Angeles, two completely different energies.
But they are connected by the same woman: someone curious enough to discover what is waiting for her next.
Why is the brand called Sofi&Co Family rather than simply Sofi&Co?
Because I never wanted it to feel like just a label.
“Family” represents community.
I want women to recognize something in each other when they wear the brand, not because they look identical, but because there is a shared attitude.
They want to experience life. They are willing to change. They take risks. They care about their bodies, but they also care about what those bodies allow them to experience.
That community can be anywhere in the world.
What do you ultimately want a woman to feel when she puts on Sofi&Co Family?
Free.
Beautiful, yes. Sexy, absolutely. Strong, definitely.
But above everything else, free.
I want her to forget about the clothes after five minutes because she is too busy living in them.
Go swim. Dance. Train. Travel. Fall in love. Build something. Get on the plane. Take the photograph at the top of whatever mountain you decided to climb.
Fashion should not make your world smaller.
The right fashion should make you want to discover more of it.
And if Sofi&Co Family becomes part of the story of where that woman goes next, then it reflects exactly the kind of brand I always imagined.
Info@soficofamily.com
