Stirling Cooper was a London-based fashion wholesaler and retailer that, along with brands such as Biba, Quorum, Browns and Clobber, helped to redefine UK fashion in the late 1960s.

Part of the Swinging London scene in the early years, and with a destination store on Wigmore Street that attracted rock stars such as Mick Jagger, it grew into a substantial wholesaler and retailer and was even more influential in the 1970s, when UK-wide concessions created accessible and affordable high fashion.

Stirling Cooper was started by two London cab drivers Ronnie Stirling and Jeff Cooper in 1967. It was initially a small-scale operation and sales techniques included using a London double-decker bus as a mobile showroom. In September 1967, Stirling and Cooper were introduced to a Royal College of Art fashion graduate Jane Whiteside; the introduction came through Diane Wadey, a buyer for the Oxford Street department store Peter Robinson, who had met Whiteside during a pre-graduation project. It was Whiteside who provided the initial fashion direction for the Stirling Cooper brand.

Initially, the company operated as a wholesale operation only and focused on womenswear. By March 1968, Whiteside's first designs for Stirling Cooper were featured in a spread in The Times, even though at this stage the designs were only available at Peter Robinson's London and Sheffield stores, a booth at Kensington Market called Make Believe Dreams and another booth at Bond Street market. Influential Times fashion editor Prudence Glynn introduced Whiteside as a new talent in the London fashion scene.

In October 1969, Glynn recommended a visit to the new Stirling Cooper boutique in Wigmore Street, describing its strange decor in graphic detail: "Ingress, or rather descent, is through the jaws of a dragon and you expect to find yourself in a salon with a digestive tract decor. In fact, once you have been swallowed by Geoffrey Vivas' smiling monster the style is Japanese bath house." After warning Times readers about the skimpy and body-revealing doors of the women's changing rooms, Glynn added that this store was the best way to see Whiteside's whole collection in context. She described dresses trousers and shirts embellished with men's silver trouser buttons, adding: "free from the qualms of any store buyer she does ankle-length bonded jersey skirts, long waistcoats, tie-around spiv jackets and saggy mid-length jersey coats. A whole personal statement in clothes at such modest prices that the message reaches a mass audience."

Menswear was also included in the new store and was designed by Antony Price, who had been co-opted by Whiteside straight from the Royal College of Art and was then 24. Less than a month later, Times fashion journalist Anthony King-Deacon previewed the new men's range, describing Price as: "one of the brightest young men in menswear designing in London." The article featured an image of Price in a long Stirling Cooper coat and described a limited range that featured safari jackets and wide-collared, pleated-sleeved shirt-waisters.

The shop was a testing ground for new ideas that might later be included in the wholesale range, King-Deacon reported, and he defined it as effectively a couture house, the key differences being the ready-to-wear designs, the limited choice of sizes and the low prices. Turnaround on designs was rapid – as little as two weeks – and men's and women's clothes were made up in the same factory and in similar materials to bypass the tradition of higher manufacturing prices for menswear. Price said: "If cats had to pay as much as chicks for their garb they would automatically get hung up about fashion. But I think I know where it's at as far as a fella's clothes are concerned. I keep them new and cheap and different". Clothes were usually manufactured in the East End, with knitwear and jersey being produced in Leicester.

Price's directional garments attracted a large fan base – especially after Mick Jagger became a customer of Stirling Cooper, wearing Price's button-side trousers on the 'Gimme Shelter' tour. In September 1969, Stirling Cooper was among the brands – alongside Clobber, Quorum and John Marks – to receive financial assistance from the Clothing Export Council to attend the Paris prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear) fashion fair, showing on a group stand. According to Jeff Banks, the British designers: "tore into the French."