Thursday Sunday is the dreamy fashion line from best friends Mara and Iris. Since 2009 they’ve been making easy effortless pieces for cool girls with nice smiles. We stopped by their studio, that they affectionately call a garage, to see where the magic happens. It was a charming jumble of work, friends, family, and the best striped shirts in Melbourne.
GGG: How did Thursday Sunday start?
Mara: It started in 2009 but kind of was a hobby at the start. It started with my mum who sews everything up for us.
Iris: It was a bit of a hobby, just making stuff for ourselves and it just went from there I guess. We just wanted something for ourselves, something we were passionate about.
Mara: It kind of just evolved from that. At the start we never really said we wanted to make it a business, it just kind of rolled.
Iris: And because Mara’s mum is a dressmaker, she’s a graphic designer, and I have a commerce background it just progressed and we all chipped in.
Does your mum still make everything?
Mara: Yeah she does, everything is done here: pattern making, designing, sewing, production—everything’s here.
What’s it like working with your mum? Or your mum-in-law?
Iris: It’s good! She’s really honest. She’ll tell us if something’s not right, or she doesn’t like something. She’s serious sometimes, which is good because being friends we joke around a lot. She’ll say, “come on girls.”
How long have you been in this space?
Mara: Like a year and a bit, a bit longer than a year.
What drew you to it?
Iris: We had a manufacturer but always wanted to have a business where it’s vertically integrated with everything done in house. This is a big enough space for us to start that and grow it.
Mara: And it’s close to home.
Why manufacture in house?
Mara: From experiences we’ve had with manufacturing, there’s so many mistakes and errors that can come out of it. And we really like the process.
Iris: Instead of sending it all out we get to see it getting made. It’s really satisfying—also we still have part time jobs and need to manage time.
Who does you knits?
Mara: Mum does.
By hand?
Mara: Yeah.
That’s insane, I always assumed it was with a knitting machine.
Mara: We do have one and we tried to learn but we can’t find someone to teach us.
Everyone I know who used them learnt overseas, it seems like a more European skill.
Mara: Yeah so true.
Has the space influenced your work and your practice?
Mara: Yeah, since we’ve moved in we’ve changed and completely become vertically integrated. We work as a team and everybody is in here is doing something different. It’s nice working all together.
What’s your favourite thing about your studio?
Mara: I like the brick wall, that sounds really silly but I just like the way it looks. I like the industrial fee.
Iris: and the open space and Armadale location.
In terms of what you brought to the space, do you have a special object you love?
Mara: I like the hanging rack my dad made for us.
Such a family affair.
Mara: I know, dad made the table as well.
Iris: He’s done a lot in here actually.
What do you listen to when you’re working?
Mara: My mum loves the radio and she’s the boss so we listen to the radio (laughs). But we’ve been listening to Beyonce’s new album quite a bit.
Iris: Always Beyonce, and old school R&B.
In your mind who is the Thursday Sunday dream girl?
Mara: I think anyone can be the Thursday Sunday girl, I don’t like to categorise because I think anyone can take our clothes and make them their own.
Iris: I think someone who would appreciate that it’s made here and the fabrics we use.
Do you have any single piece from all your collections that is really special to you?
Mara: I would say from the winter collection the stripe dress, I really like that it’s reversible.
Iris: It’s made with Japanese cotton which is pretty cool.
Mara: The knits are favourites too because they take so long to make.
Iris: There is always a bit of a story behind them because Mara’s mum knits all over the place in her free time.
Is it weird to see someone wearing them on the street and think, my mum made that?
Mara: It’s kind of surreal because you don’t expect to see someone in your clothes.
Iris: We don’t see it very often, because we don’t go out much (laugh).
Why the name Thursday Sunday?
Mara: So Iris was born on Thursday, and I was born on Sunday.
Iris: We just combined it because we thought it would be easy to remember, it’s personal, there is no negative anything towards it, it’s the weekend.
I totally thought it was a long weekend reference.
Mara: Everyone jokes, Thursday to Sunday, best days of the week!
In a perfect world where will you be in five years time?
Mara: Obviously still working together, working like this in a team.
Iris: A bigger team probably. Quitting our jobs.
Mara: Quitting our jobs! That’s a big one, doing this full time.
Who are your heroes?
Mara: Probably my family, my mum.
Iris: Yeah your mum’s pretty cool.
What are you excited about right now?
Mara: We’re selling our collection in the UK and Paris, we just shipped everything off yesterday.
Exciting! Good luck guys!
Images by Thomson
