Coosy

Coosy is a Spanish women's clothing brand that's a household name back home and almost unknown outside Spain. Which is a shame, because it's one of those rare cases where national scale actually goes hand in hand with real local production: 80% of the collections are made in Spanish workshops.

The brand was founded by Virginia Pozo Castro from Pontevedra, who basically grew up in a fitting room - her mother ran a dressmaking shop for over twenty years. At 26, Virginia quit her bank job and in 2011 launched an online multi-brand store, selling clothing and accessories from around the world based on her own taste. A year later she launched her first own line and opened a physical store in Pontevedra.

From the very beginning, the brand built its identity around the image of a woman at a wedding or a party. Dresses for event guests - in Spanish, ropa de invitada, literally "guest clothing" - became Coosy's main specialty. Over time the range expanded to include casual wear, a beachwear collection, loungewear, accessories, shoes and costume jewellery.

Then there's Coosy Studio: limited capsule releases with architectural cuts, voluminous silhouettes and hand-finished details. Made exclusively in Spain from taffeta, organza and crepe de chine, it's the most expensive and dressy part of the range, aimed squarely at weddings and formal occasions.

The main collections are no slouch either: the brand works with certified organic and recycled fabrics, and part of its production runs through workshops that employ women from socially vulnerable groups.

The Coosy boutique on Claudio Coello, 46, in Madrid's Salamanca neighbourhood opened in 2018 and was the first space the brand designed from the start as a proper flagship: 90 sq.m, a bright interior, the full range in one place. There are two more Madrid stores - on Hermosilla, 17, and Conde de Xiquena, 9. Across Spain the brand has 25 standalone stores in Barcelona, Seville, Valencia, Bilbao, Vigo and other cities, including Pontevedra where it all began.

The reason to stop by Coosy on a trip through Spain is simple: the ropa de invitada format - dresses and suits for celebrations with a genuinely Spanish sensibility - barely travels beyond the country. You won't find this in Zara or any international department store, and here it's the whole point.