Alpha60

Alpha60 has opened its Sydney flagship in the heart of Darlinghurst – a considered yet cinematic space designed in collaboration with Foolscap. The new 230m² store marks a significant milestone for the brand, bringing its distinctive sensibility to Sydney through a design approach that is future-focused, flexible, and playful.

“Alpha60 and Foolscap have always appreciated each other’s designs and bounced ideas off one another,” says Adele Winteridge, Founder and Principal of Foolscap. “Our long-standing relationship with sibling founders Alex and Georgie Cleary allowed us to push ideas further, take risks, and create a store that truly reflects Alpha60’s character and values.”

Set within the Oxford and Foley heritage building, the design takes a light-touch approach, allowing the site’s natural patina to remain visible. Customers enter from Oxford Street into a long, linear site, greeted by a timber framework that extends into the plan and displays products. This sustainably engineered timber structure fabricated by Crafted Hardwoods is central to the design. Its mechanical fixings can be disassembled and reused at future locations, supporting a circular, low-waste retail model. The contemporary timber frame forms a “second skin” within the heritage shell. Akin to a blank canvas, its upholstered panels can be changed seasonally, leveraging Alpha60’s textile expertise and manufacturing capabilities while providing long-term functionality.

The custom point-of-sale counter in treated mild steel features a routed acrylic panel that evokes the texture of fabric, finished in vibrant Lime Fizz to anchor the space. Its abstracted form marks a midpoint in the customer journey while maintaining clear sightlines to key display zones. Flexible plinths and modular units accommodate ever-changing curations of apparel, denim, accessories, bags, and footwear. At the rear, large arched windows flood the store with natural light, while the thoughtfully designed change room — complete with a custom lounge by Foolscap — offers an intimate, lounge-like environment for multiple visitors. Considered textures and playful colour accents guide customers through the store while complementing the heritage shell. Textured paint on the base-build walls, an exposed ceiling, custom-designed curtains referencing Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville, and a blown-out “Alice in Wonderland” checkerboard timber floor create a calm, tactile backdrop for the product collections. Layered lighting, including a multicoloured LED installation, is playful, contemporary, and distinctly Alpha60.

Foolscap’s Sydney Studio Director, Ellen Rosengren-Johnson, elaborates: “We took inspiration from Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville, the 1965 French New Wave film that Alpha60 is named after. There is a cinematic feel in the patterned floor and textiles, the modernist forms and plinths, and the way light and shadow play across the space. The duality between soft and hard, tactile and refined, adds another layer of storytelling to the design.”

The project was brought to life by several skilled collaborators, including Show Works on fabrication; Crafted Hardwoods for the sustainably engineered timber frame; and Thirteen Architectural Timber, who delivered the joinery of the frame. Materials were chosen for longevity and circularity, from Allusion recycled aluminium panels and passivated steel to translucent mesh wall panels and a refined lighting design that elevates both form and function.

Alpha60 Sydney represents a new chapter for the brand, translating its distinctive aesthetic into a flagship that is both playful and considered, flexible yet refined. By combining heritage sensitivity, sustainable design strategies, and an adaptable retail framework, Foolscap elevates the customer experience while setting a benchmark for circular, enduring retail design.