Six years ago, after coming out as a transmasc nonbinary person, Erin Spencer discovered firsthand just how difficult it was to source gender-affirming apparel in Australia—with no local retailers offering what they needed. So, Spencer and their partner Bec Cerio addressed the issue themselves.
“When I first started looking for chest binders, I couldn’t find any. So, I ordered one from an American company which took six weeks to arrive. And I was 32 when I came out; I’d taken so long to get to that point that having to wait another six weeks was just gruelling,” Spencer tells Not Safe For Queers.
“That was the point that Bec and I were like, ‘this is such a shitty system…why isn’t there anyone in Australia doing this?’ And after having these conversations back and forth for a couple of months, we decided we were going to have to do this because no one else was doing it.”
Funded entirely by Spencer and Cerio themselves, Sock Drawer Heroes was born.
In the early days, Sock Drawer Heroes was a side hustle for the pair, with the store offering a very limited range of gender-affirming products, operating out of their one-bedroom apartment in Sydney. But after moving into a retail space in the city’s inner west, the duo have been able to expand their operation.
“Essentially, we sell gender-affirming products that help gender diverse people (and people who are exploring gender) feel more comfortable in their bodies,” says Bec Cerio. “So that includes chest binders, packing gear, packers, packing underwear, tucking underwear, and a variety of transfemme lingerie.”
But it’s not just about selling products for Spencer and Cerio. It’s about engaging with community and making sure that trans and gender diverse people are safe and comfortable in their clothing.
This includes having a pull-down blind over the dressing room mirror (which can help curb feelings of gender dysphoria) and boxes of tissues for the inevitable happy tears that flow from people seeing themselves as themselves for the first time.
Moving forward, the couple are thrilled to announce the development of a new line of swimwear for their customers—using the investment money they received on Shark Tank.
“The investment money that we received has primarily gone towards the development of a swim chest binder that’s also a rash shirt,” Spencer says.
“We’ve sold various swim chest binders since we began, but they’re very form fitting, very figure hugging,” Cerio says. “So, we wanted to develop something that served the purpose of chest binding but was looser and more gender affirming.”
The newly developed swimwear—which is currently in its sampling stage—will combine functionality while being gender friendly. At this stage, the pair are hoping for a summer launch, but note that a good quality product that’s fit-for-purpose is much more important to them than a hard deadline.
Although Sock Drawer Heroes operates primarily as an online store, their retail store is open for visitors once a fortnight. Alternatively, you can occasionally catch them popping up at events (including at the upcoming Trans and Friends Festival Illawarra), and hosting creators’ markets in the laneway adjacent to their store.