Behind The Brand

Soca Girl came onto the Birmingham shopping scene in 2009.

“My daughter was in 4th grade at what felt like was age 10 going on 13. She wanted to dress like the girls who shopped at Soca—wanting to feel trendy and to dress a little older than what was being offered around town in shops that carried kids’ sizes. I realized that Birmingham really lacked places that a tween (pre-teen) girl could shop for clothes that fit her size but also felt relevant to her age and the style she was seeking. Seeing so many cute trends at Soca that I knew could be a hit for tweens if I could access them in her size, I started looking at the lines Soca carried that offered kids’ clothes. I soon came to realize that because of the way we bought for Soca, we could take that knowledge and translate it down to kids when picking out styles and trends. We built the concept of Soca Girl on what the Soca customer would have dressed like as a tween. We opened Soca Girl in October 2009 as the “little sister” version of Soca Clothing, successfully filling a gap that was much needed in the market for tweens’ trendy clothing.

When she was as young as 9 years old, I began to realize my daughter was beginning to face many hard choices regarding school and her social life. She was facing issues of independence and self identity, and her world was becoming a place that made her feel rejected and like she didn’t measure up. As girls enter into the pre-teen years and become more self-conscious, it is important to help them understand how to access their personal style in a way that makes them feel confident, comfortable and approachable.

Soca Girl is built on the same mission and values as our big sister store, Soca Clothing. We want girls to leave our store feeling confident and comfortable in the clothes they choose to wear. All of us are valuable individuals, and our mission is to help our customers see that in themselves. Girls want to feel good about how they look—if we can help those that come into our stores leave feeling confident in their own style, then we consider that a success! At Soca Girl we embrace these three values which are embedded into the culture of Soca as a whole: Love People, Love Fashion, and Love to Hustle.” -Kathleen Tenner, CEO