Building a Business of Passion From Homemade Pocket Squares
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NEWS & PERSPECTIVES TheEpochTimes 8 JUNE 20 – JULY 3, 2014 By Tan Shu Yan Epoch Times Staff ere is a classic menswear shop in the middle of a factory complex in Geylang. And it’s been doing extremely well. Despite its admittedly strange location, Vanda Fine Clothing is a small business that Gerald Shen and his wife Diana Chan have run successfully since its inception three years ago. e business was started out of the couple’s passion for making neck- ties and pocket squares. To start the busi- ness, Gerald had to give up on a potential career in the finance industry, and Diana had to quit her job at a hotel–despite hav- ing just received a promotion at the time. e pair design and make neckties and pocket squares, which they sell on their online store. ey roll out new designs every two weeks, and nearly everything is sewn together by hand. Daily operations appear fairly straight- forward and deceptively simple. Orders are managed using Microsoſt Excel and a small whiteboard hung on a wall. e three workbenches in the centre of the shop are just enough for Gerald, Diana, and their single staff member to work on. But business has been brisk, and their products are certainly in demand. Ger- ald estimates that there are perhaps no more than 20 hand-sewn tie-makers such as themselves leſt in the world. e neck- ties and pocket squares made at Vanda Fine Clothing are sold to customers all over the world. But it is easy to feel the pride and dedi- cation they place in their work. “Every piece that we sell we would per- sonally wear,” Gerald told e Epoch Times, “A lot of our clients tell us that they can close their eyes and pick any one of our ties to go with their business attire, and it would probably go.” Tell us about how you started your busi- ness. Gerald: We started this business in 2009 when I was still in school. It all started with a trip to Japan, where I bought some kimono silk with the idea of having my tailor line the inside of my jacket with it, but she refused because it was too diffi- cult to work with. So it was just lying in my room when one day, Eureka! Why not make pocket squares out of it? I knew that Diana–then still my girlfriend–knew how to sew, so I asked her to sew one for me. But there was enough cloth to make sev- eral pocket squares, so we tried selling the extras on Styleforum, the biggest online forum for menswear. Pretty soon we had a waiting list of a couple of weeks, and peo- ple liked it because it was unique and fairly priced. Diana: Initially it was quite fun, but then the orders started rolling in. So when other couples were out going on dates, we would stay home and sew. I had a full-time events job then, and it came to a point when I was very tired from all the sewing. at con- vinced Gerald to pick it up as well, and in early 2011, we started making and selling neckties on the forum too. We did this for 4 or 5 months until he graduated, when we took a vacation to the U.S. to visit some friends. I saw a lot of small businesses that people ran from their front porches, and I thought that it would be nice if we could do this for real. G: Somewhere down the line we realised that we actually enjoyed doing this, and that this was a product that people were really interested in. It made business sense to start the business. So when we got back from the U.S., she said, “Let’s do this,” and I said “Let me deal with this first, you don’t quit your job yet,” but she said “No, no, I’m going to quit tomorrow.” And she did. So in Septem- ber 2011, we finally launched this business. What is your customer base like? G: In Singapore our business is quite small; we sell largely to the U.S., Europe, and Aus- tralia. About maybe, 10% of our business is local, which is why we can choose to locate in an industrial area. Around 60% of our customers are repeat clients. e difference in our business model is that we sell directly to customers, so there are very few steps in the supply chain. We buy directly from the people who weave the cloth–from small companies in Japan, England, and Italy–who weave our cloth in small batches. e manufacturing is all done in this shop, and we sell directly to our customers through our website. So we basically cut out at least two intermediar- ies, which is why we can afford to sell high quality products at very low prices. Do you have a close relationship with your suppliers? D: We only get to travel once a year to visit our weavers, so it’s either Europe or Japan. Because we’re a very small company, it’s a way for them to remember us, what we do, and the kind of fabrics we like. To main- tain a close relationship also involves a lot of emailing, and they send us swatches (fab- Building a Business of Passion From Homemade Pocket Squares Some of the unique Japanese fabrics used at Vanda Fine Clothing PHOTOS COURTESY OF GERALD SHEN AND DIANA CHAN Gerald Shen and Diana Chan She said, “Let’s do this,” and I said “Let me deal with this first, you don’t quit your job yet,” but she said “No, no, I’m going to quit tomorrow.” And she did.
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(Interview with the owners of Vanda Fine Clothing) Epoch Times, Singapore Edition (Issue 489, Jun 20 - July 3, 2014)
Transcript of Building a Business of Passion From Homemade Pocket Squares
NEWS & PERSPECTIVES TheEpochTimes8 JUNE 20 – JUly 3, 2014
By Tan Shu YanEpoch Times Staff
There is a classic menswear shop in the middle of a factory complex in Geylang. And it’s been doing extremely well.
Despite its admittedly strange location, Vanda Fine Clothing is a small business that Gerald Shen and his wife Diana Chan have run successfully since its inception three years ago. The business was started out of the couple’s passion for making neck-ties and pocket squares. To start the busi-ness, Gerald had to give up on a potential career in the finance industry, and Diana had to quit her job at a hotel–despite hav-ing just received a promotion at the time.
The pair design and make neckties and pocket squares, which they sell on their online store. They roll out new designs every two weeks, and nearly everything is sewn together by hand.
Daily operations appear fairly straight-forward and deceptively simple. Orders are managed using Microsoft Excel and a small whiteboard hung on a wall. The three workbenches in the centre of the shop are just enough for Gerald, Diana, and their single staff member to work on.
But business has been brisk, and their products are certainly in demand. Ger-
ald estimates that there are perhaps no more than 20 hand-sewn tie-makers such as themselves left in the world. The neck-ties and pocket squares made at Vanda Fine Clothing are sold to customers all over the world.
But it is easy to feel the pride and dedi-cation they place in their work.
“Every piece that we sell we would per-sonally wear,” Gerald told The Epoch Times, “A lot of our clients tell us that they can close their eyes and pick any one of our ties to go with their business attire, and it would probably go.”
Tell us about how you started your busi-ness.Gerald: We started this business in 2009 when I was still in school. It all started with a trip to Japan, where I bought some kimono silk with the idea of having my tailor line the inside of my jacket with it, but she refused because it was too diffi-cult to work with. So it was just lying in my room when one day, Eureka! Why not make pocket squares out of it? I knew that Diana–then still my girlfriend–knew how to sew, so I asked her to sew one for me.
But there was enough cloth to make sev-eral pocket squares, so we tried selling the extras on Styleforum, the biggest online
forum for menswear. Pretty soon we had a waiting list of a couple of weeks, and peo-ple liked it because it was unique and fairly priced.
Diana: Initially it was quite fun, but then the orders started rolling in. So when other couples were out going on dates, we would stay home and sew. I had a full-time events job then, and it came to a point when I was very tired from all the sewing. That con-vinced Gerald to pick it up as well, and in early 2011, we started making and selling neckties on the forum too.
We did this for 4 or 5 months until he graduated, when we took a vacation to the U.S. to visit some friends. I saw a lot of small businesses that people ran from their front porches, and I thought that it would be nice if we could do this for real.
G: Somewhere down the line we realised that we actually enjoyed doing this, and that this was a product that people were really interested in. It made business sense to start the business.
So when we got back from the U.S., she said, “Let’s do this,” and I said “Let me deal with this first, you don’t quit your job yet,” but she said “No, no, I’m going to quit tomorrow.” And she did. So in Septem-
ber 2011, we finally launched this business.
What is your customer base like?G: In Singapore our business is quite small; we sell largely to the U.S., Europe, and Aus-tralia. About maybe, 10% of our business is local, which is why we can choose to locate in an industrial area. Around 60% of our customers are repeat clients.
The difference in our business model is that we sell directly to customers, so there are very few steps in the supply chain. We buy directly from the people who weave the cloth–from small companies in Japan, England, and Italy–who weave our cloth in small batches. The manufacturing is all done in this shop, and we sell directly to our customers through our website. So we basically cut out at least two intermediar-ies, which is why we can afford to sell high quality products at very low prices.
Do you have a close relationship with your suppliers?D: We only get to travel once a year to visit our weavers, so it’s either Europe or Japan. Because we’re a very small company, it’s a way for them to remember us, what we do, and the kind of fabrics we like. To main-tain a close relationship also involves a lot of emailing, and they send us swatches (fab-
Building a Business of Passion From Homemade Pocket Squares
Some of the unique Japanese fabrics used at Vanda Fine Clothing
PhoToS courTESy of GErald ShEn and diana chan
Gerald Shen and Diana Chan
She said, “Let’s do this,” and I said “Let me deal with this first, you don’t quit your job yet,” but she said “No, no, I’m going to quit tomorrow.” And she did.
