"I grew up in Rome, but my mother is English; my father Italian. So my influences were always a clash of those two cultures." Her earliest memory of Italy is, "Going to Fiorucci to buy comics. My dad was really into comics and he got me into graphics. In the late '80s, comics were very important culturally and politically in Italy. They were rather extreme and adult. There was a strong history with comics and political involvement and Fiorucci used to sell them – along with pink creepers." So when Sofia met Fergus for the first time, who arrived with comics in hand – "I just fell in love with everything he did. Up to that point I hadn’t met anyone else who was as into comics. From the very beginning we discussed establishing a brand together."

So how did the Italian teenager find herself in a basement off Tottenham Court Road surrounded by boys in London's most famous skate-shop in the early '90s? "My mum would come back from London with copies of i-D and The Face so I was aware of London that way. My sister and I were listening to post-punk and American punk music at the time, and she helped me shave my head and dye my mohawk pink." Encouraged by her mother, Sofia soon found herself in London in the middle of the Acid House movement.

"I moved in with my step-grandmother, whose surveillance skills were pretty poor. I would go clubbing not knowing everyone was high at first. It was just so... hedonistic, and so trendy. These transvestite clubs, like Kinky Gerlinky and the Mud Club, were wild. Me and my best mate would sneak out at 1am and wait at the bus stop in the middle of nowhere, for a bus that sometimes didn't come. One time we were brought back by the police. We were having a great time."