Join FREE Community Membership - Details Below

our story

Trust . Strength . Integrity

From young parents to grandparents, our journey reflects trust rebuilt, strength grown through struggle, and integrity shaped by honest change.

Meet Sammy and Taga Co-Founders

Sam was born in Aotearoa New Zealand to Samoan parents and grew up in a family where hard work was the foundation of everything. He migrated to Australia in 1986 with his wife and young son, determined to build a future that gave his family more stability and opportunity.

Sam has always relied on movement, discipline, and resilience. Cycling became part of his life out of necessity when money was tight and the only way to get to work was on a bike. Over the years, cycling turned into something more.

It became a reminder of what it means to keep going even when spaces weren’t built for people like him.

Sam often felt excluded from cycling communities because of his larger Samoan frame. Hearing “you don’t look like a cyclist” pushed him away from joining clubs and highlighted how many sports and apparel spaces overlook bodies outside the mainstream. These experiences shaped his passion for clothing that looks good and fit bodies that are broader, heavier, and culturally diverse.

As co-founder of TSI Wear, Sam brings lived experience, cultural grounding, and a commitment to inclusivity. His goal is to make clothing that feels good, fits well, and gives people confidence, especially those who’ve never seen themselves represented in activewear or casual performance wear.

Family remains at the centre of his purpose — the legacy he wants to build.

Taga was born in Aotearoa New Zealand to Samoan parents and with hubby Sam and son who was 3yrs old at the time, migrated to Australia in 1986. Her journey as a first-generation NZ-born Pacific woman in Australia has shaped much of her work and worldview. Growing up between cultures, she learned early how identity can be challenged, overlooked, or diluted in dominant spaces — something she is now committed to reclaiming and reshaping in the work she does.

Taga's work across trauma-informed money coaching, inclusive marketing, and social-impact consulting has always centred people who feel unseen or underserved. She builds businesses with purpose, lifts community voices, and designs experiences that speak directly to real human needs.

As co-founder of TSI Wear, Taga brings her strengths in strategy, culture, and storytelling. She understands the deep connection diaspora families have to identity. Her focus is on creating a brand that feels accessible, respectful, and grounded in lived experience — not trends.

TSI Wear reflects her belief that everyone deserves clothing that honours who they are and how they live.

Taga understands more the integral part that the older generation play in holding our family values, our stories, and our legacy together.

By Now, You Can Probably See

What’s Really Driving Us

Part of our reason for creating TSI Wear comes from understanding how identity, body image, and belonging affect mental health — especially for Pacific and culturally diverse people living outside their homelands. For many of us in the diaspora, growing up meant learning to fit into environments that didn’t reflect our bodies, our cultures, or our ways of being.

Over time, this can shape how we see ourselves.

We’ve both lived through the quiet pressures of not feeling represented — in sport, in fashion, in workplaces, and in everyday life.

Being told you don’t look like you belong, or struggling to find clothing that fits your body, chips away at confidence.

It creates self-doubt that sits in the background for years. These experiences aren’t small.

They have a real impact on mental well-being, identity, and how people move through the world.

TSI Wear exists to challenge this.

When people see clothing made for bodies like theirs, and patterns that reflect their culture, it sends a clear message: you belong here too. Representation shouldn’t be limited to certain body types, skin tones, or sizes. Feeling comfortable in your own skin supports mental wellness, confidence, and self-worth — and it shouldn’t take decades to realise that.

By centring inclusive design, cultural respect, and real-world fit, we want TSI Wear to remove some of the barriers that make people feel unseen.

For us, this is more than clothing. It is about reducing isolation, improving self-esteem, and helping people feel grounded in their cultural identity.

When people feel seen, valued, and included, their mental health strengthens.

That matters to us, and it shapes every decision we make.