It’s no accident that Xírena’s perfectly relaxed, washed cotton poplin shirts, crinkly gauze dresses and pants hang next to brands like Isabel Marant and Ulla Johnson at Merci in Paris, Fred Segal in L.A. and other chic speciality boutiques across the U.S. and Europe.
That’s because Xírena’s owners are Dierdre Roffoni and her husband Tony Graham, L.A. fashion veterans and the founders of Findings Inc. For more than 30 years, the showroom with offices in L.A., New York and Paris has represented Marant, Johnson and many others in the contemporary fashion space.
Now, after helping to build so many other brands, they are also turning their attention to their own.
They started Xírena, pronounced “sirena,” in 2012 inspired by the girls they saw riding Vespas in bra tops while on vacation in Formentara, Spain. And it has been on an upward trajectory since, transitioning from its beginnings in colorful cotton lingerie to a budding lifestyle brand sold at more than 500 retail doors, and growing exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic when soft dressing was all around.
After a record 2023 with $55 million in sales, the couple have hired their first brand president, Travis Heard, who comes from Outerknown.
“Travis’ experience, business insights and sensibility make him a great fit to lead the expansion of Xírena,” said Graham during a recent interview in the brand headquarters in L.A.’s Fashion District.
“Tony and Dierdre are icons in the industry and to be able to work with them is a unique opportunity,” said Heard. “And there is a real opportunity, too, with the positioning of the brand and distribution, the strength and quality of the product, and the fact that it hasn’t really gotten out there yet,” he said. “This is a new position that helps connect all the dots within the business and helps elevate a multiyear strategy.”
Xírena’s philosophy is clothes that are made to live in.
“Nothing is so precious. We like a little rumple to the clothes. Nothing is steamed perfectly or hard-pressed, everything has an effortless to it,” explained brand director Stacey Baldi.
Designed to go over the bra tops, the brand’s first hit item was the Beau relaxed cotton poplin button-down shirt, followed by the Channing with a twist, as in a literal twisted placket. Now it has expanded into a range of tops, bottoms, dresses, swimwear, denim and outerwear, priced from $80 to $700. Silk is now present in every collection.
“We didn’t look at it to pay the bills, it was just a project and it grew quickly,” said Graham.
“The power and reach of the showroom Findings, that had a big part to play. It started to get entrenched in the showroom environment; you see it in so many stores, that’s part of 35 years of work with so many well-known brands. It fit into the product mix of the showroom, then we started to embrace it as it started to generate revenue for this company.”
In the initial years, Xírena was growing 35 to 40 percent year-over-year. “Then COVID[-19] hit and it grew 100 percent with our online business,” he said, noting that direct-to-consumer is now 20 percent of sales. “Now it’s about balancing growth with quality, then financing it. We had euphoric moments pre-COVID[-19], then COVID[-19] was whoa, how do we cope with all this?”
“We started with layering pieces, and at the time, I had Isabel Marant and all these brands around me — you have to be careful as a multibrand office, you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes — but it was easy to see what’s missing because I was on the floor all the time,” said Roffoni, the brand’s creative director. “And especially during COVID[-19], what people wanted was simple, comfortable, easy and soft.”
The company employs 75 people with its own design and sample studio, development, production, marketing, sales and shipping teams. And 70 percent of the line is manufactured in L.A.
Although the average age of the Xírena customer is 45, “We are seeing a younger customer online,” Roffoni said.
Now, the teams are focused on elevating design.
“Our clothing doesn’t overtake you, which is a plus, but our challenge is to convert that into something a little more dressy,” said Roffoni. “We’re always going to keep the Beau, the Channing and the Scout shirts, but our customer wants something more from us.”
“The recipe for longevity in this business is to be able to cultivate and establish yourself in product that your customer comes back to you for time and time again and doesn’t get sick of it to the point they don’t buy it anymore. That’s core to what we do,” said Graham. “But onto that you are layering in some trend, because you want to be current.”
With the economic conditions, the pair expect sales could be flat for 2023. “It would be great to do $100 million…but we want to stick to what’s true to the customer and have realistic expectations and not just drive the numbers,” said Graham.
While shirting and tops continue to be core, dresses are a fast-growing category where the brand sees opportunity.
“We’re hiring better pattern makers that do bottoms; we started adding accessories to the website,” said Roffoni, a lifelong jewelry lover who has started curating Gachon Pothier necklaces for the site. “Because Xírena is so quiet, we’ll continue adding things to make it interesting and fun.”
“We can see from the website tremendous brand loyalty and repeat customers,” said Graham.
“Bringing Xírena to life on the retail front would be a longtime goal,” added Heard, who is looking to create more omnichannel excitement.
“We all have tremendous belief in what we’ve done and where we can go with it,” said Graham. “And a lot of it has to do with the fact there is a core. We don’t want to be a fashion brand that just comes and goes, and we’re in a good position to do that as we go forward. We want to be here 20 years from now.”