FOR John Lim, fashion isn't merely about clothes; it's also about styling and coordination. The director of Fashion. Lab, a retailer of women's apparel, believes in 'selling a styling' to his customers.
'We don't just sell physical merchandise now; we're selling a styling,' says Mr Lim, who founded the company with his partner in 2000. 'If I give you a piece of clothing but you don't coordinate it well, you won't have a style. We pump in a lot of accessories and leggings - lacy, colourful - to coordinate (the clothes).'
This, he says, is what differentiates Fashion.Lab from its competitors. 'There are more displays (in our stores) now; in the past, it used to be one window and two mannequins. Today, we try to have more displays, so on every rack, you'll see coordination,' he explains. 'If you sell the dress by itself, it's just another piece of dress. But if you put on a belt, you'll become a runway look-alike. So we try to inflict a point-of-sales: every point that you see is a coordination for you to refer to.'
Fashion.Lab currently has nine boutiques in town, and two in Kuala Lumpur. 'When we started, we focused only on young ladies between 20 and 28 years who wanted to dress in a more cosmopolitan style. But as we grew and expanded from one to more stores, our market grew and we had to cater to that,' says Mr Lim, 32, who graduated from the LaSalle International Design School.
Now, Fashion.Lab's apparel range focuses on four styles: the 'flashy' - which he describes as 'statement- style, high-waist, skimpy and with very daring colour combination'; 'basic' ('knitwear that looks good and simple'); 'working class'; and 'girly'. The prices of the clothes range from $29 to $89, while the materials are sourced from Japan, says Mr Lim.
Fashion.Lab, he adds, comes up with its own designs for all the apparel. He and his team of designers draw their inspiration through travelling to fashion capitals such as Japan and London, where 'we see many upcoming and established designers; from there, you can more or less tell where the direction of clothing is going and how they interpret it'.
'When we come back to Singapore, we try to interpret it into our own (styles), because the customer profile here is different,' he says. 'The cutting and styling are very different. Singapore has a very unique consumer market - you can't be too Westernised but you can't be too conservative; so we're in-between.
'If you take clothes from China, they're always very high-cut; Singaporeans will find that very boring and conservative . . . but if you take them directly from the Western countries, they'll be too low-cut; customers wouldn't dare to wear them,' he explains.
Mr Lim believes that Fashion. Lab's strength lies in its prints. 'We mix plain with prints, because prints are a very dangerous thing to play with,' he says. 'If you do it wrongly, it'll end up looking like it's meant for an 'amah', but if you do it correctly, it'll become very 'statement', feminine and exclusive. Print always portrays a more classy image.'
Last year, the firm applied for OCBC Bank's Business Term Loan to help grow its business. 'At that time, we weren't really cash-strapped, but it was good, because as your company grows to a certain size, you have to build rapport with and get some recognition from banks,' Mr Lim says. 'The extra cash is important when the opportunity comes.'
Fashion.Lab's revenue has been rising steadily at about 10 per cent over the past few years, and Mr Lim expects another 20 per cent growth this year. Nevertheless, he acknowledges that inflation, competition and the ability to retain existing customers remain key challenges to the business.
'You have new brands and labels coming out every day... inflation-wise, it's the rising cost of materials, rental, packaging, shipping - everything's up,' he notes. 'But inflation and competition are the external things. To me, the main challenge is to stay focused and do things that are within your control - keeping your customers satisfied and to refresh and excite them every time. Only then will you not need to bother about inflation because customers will keep coming back and the business can continue to grow.'
And expanding its horizons is a strategy that Mr Lim is taking to take the company forward. He reveals that Fashion.Lab is currently in the midst of setting up a designer office in Kuala Lumpur, and is also in talks with a department store group in Indonesia that is keen to gain distributorship rights for its apparel.
He also hopes to eventually venture into men's and children's wear. 'If we want to share the fashion, the dream, it's not just here; we need a wider horizon,' he says.
Indeed, the young entrepreneur's passion comes across clearly throughout the interview.
'Fashion, to me, is a wearable art. Runway is only showing you the statement. What's the direction next year? Is it going to be very short, sexy or bulky? That's the statement they have, but it's not wearable at all. So we have to interpret it and make it an art for customers every day,' he says.
'That's our mission for Fashion. Lab: to turn fabrics into ready-to- wear art for all occasions.'
