What makes a business digital-first? The creative minds behind three digital fashion and jewellery enterprises share what it’s like to run in the virtual world.
AS SEEN ON SCREEN
In a visually driven age of social media, a virtual outfit might earn you more Likes than a physical ensemble. Forty British pounds (S$70) for a silk gown sounds like an absolute deal. But what if we told you it only existed as an image in the virtual world? In August, James Gaubert launched Republiqe, which he describes as “the world’s first digital-only luxury fashion brand”. Based in Singapore since 2018, the former digital marketer and fashion designer by training decided to combine his key interests when launching his business.
At the Republiqe website, people choose their clothing and upload images of themselves. The site’s team digitally fits the clothing and accessories onto them and then sends the completed images – most likely destined for social media and, hopefully, lots of Likes – back to customers.
Gaubert shares: “Fashion is a challenging, congested market. How do you cut through all the clutter? You need to be doing something different. My company is built around three pillars: technology, creativity and sustainability. As much as possible, I want to challenge and disrupt the industry and consumer behaviour.” He shares his thoughts on why virtual clothing will be more than a passing trend.
How exactly does virtual fashion design work?
Although we don’t create a physical garment, my lead designer and I need to do everything in 2D first – as if we were creating a regular garment based on a drafted pattern – and then move on to making our tech packs or blueprints before passing them to the 3D production team.
Using CLO, a 3D fashion design platform, we fit garments on our avatars and rotate them to effectively see how they fall and flow from every angle. We use only digital fabrics of a certain quality. Digital design requires the same amount of attention to detail as physical design, from hardware such as buttons and metals to the stitching on garments and accessories.
Republiqe charges around $70 for a digital gown, and you’re branding it as a luxury digital clothing label. How does a digital clothing brand fall into the luxury category?
The craftsmanship, the designs and the materials. We use only high-quality digital fabrics from CLO, the global standard for 3D design, and you can see the difference in the way an outfit looks, just like in real life. A high-quality silk or cashmere dress flows and drapes very differently from a polyester one.
Who is your target audience?
I thought our customers would be Gen Z, which is the 22 to 27 age group to me. But they are mostly between 18 and the mid-20s. It’s interesting because I didn’t think they would have the money to spend on something like this. But I’ve spoken to several of them and, as a demographic, they are born content creators and care about how they look on social media.
Does virtual clothing offer a unique way for fashion lovers to be environmentally responsible?
Younger customers want brands with a certain degree of social and environmental responsibility. Because of my background in fashion, I’ve been to many factories and warehouses, mostly in Asia.
I’ve seen huge amounts of fabric wastage. I was in a large factory in Vietnam, and there were four to five inches of fabric offcuts covering the floor. Today, because of fast fashion, some outfits are worn just once before they’re headed for the landfill. We need a mindset change.
Are Republiqe’s designs supposed to look lifelike or are they meant to look more obviously digital in a cyberpunk way?
It depends on the garment. We’ve sold a few jackets, for instance, to buyers who told us: “I can’t believe it’s not real”. And then there’s our bestseller: a pair of trousers made of pink digital PVC that is less realistic and a bit more out there.
What’s next for your brand?
I see several growth opportunities. At the moment, we can only fit clothing on images. But video is the number one consumed content, especially with platforms like TikTok. So, we’re looking to see what we can do in this area.
Secondly, I think we have the potential to create virtual digital wardrobes where people can store more garments that could be easily fitted onto different photos or videos. This means that, instead of buying one photo or image, they’ll have a wardrobe of garments to use multiple times.
Founder and creative director
A FRESH FACET
The second-generation head of a jewellery brand introduces a sparkling addition to the family.
When he returned to Singapore to join The Canary Diamond Co., his family business, five years ago, Johnny Lam’s first self-imposed task was to set about digitising the company. “I digitised all our processes, from the back end to designing, manufacturing and delivery. Everything had to be seamless and unified.”
Lam’s next step was to start ByCanary, a digital-first jewellery brand that launched in August. The idea of creating a sister brand to Canary Diamond first came about last June. Lam, who has worked for major industry players such as De Beers and Hennig during his 18 years in the jewellery industry, says, “We knew we wanted to create a digital, technologically forward brand with an online presence and a minimal physical footprint.
While Canary Diamond focuses on higher-end pieces with rare stones, ByCanary is more fashionable and for daytoday wear. Both brands are about good quality.” Here, Lam shares more about the online brand.
Did you create ByCanary specifically for a younger audience?
Yes. Many of them place less of an emphasis on name brands. It’s about showing one’s individuality. We’re not a mass brand that makes a thousand pieces per item. We try to think about how to create something bespoke that’s relatively accessible. For example, we can use hand-engraving as a way to collaborate with customers and produce a personalised piece.
Aside from having a website, what does it mean for a business to be digital-first?
Things like virtual consultations are now standard things that we have to do. Going forward, it’s also about embracing different aspects of technology, especially when it comes to how we communicate with collaborators and customers, and track that journey. Right now, if you visit Canary Diamond's Instagram page and then DM us, we will follow up by getting your contact details and creating a connection. Subsequently, if you go to our store, we have a system that allows me to track the salesperson who served you online, whether or not a transaction went through and even why it didn’t go through – basically, the whole customer journey.
How can you improve customer experience with technology?
Soon, when you visit our website, we might ask you questions like “How are you feeling today?”, “What colours do you like?” and “How would you describe your style?” These could be in the form of a questionnaire. Using artificial intelligence, the website then recommends products suitable for you, so you don’t have to look through pages of products. We would know who you are by asking the right questions.
How else can technology improve the online jewellery-buying process?
One of my main issues now is how to shorten the time between placing an order and the time it takes to reach a customer. Currently, we 3D-print a wax model to make a mould and add gold to create a piece of jewellery before it’s sent for stone-setting and finishing. Going forward, we’re looking into what we call direct metal printing, which involves using a powdered form of metal and laser to build the actual product.
What I aim to do next year is this: the moment you order, say, a ring, I’ll immediately have a CAD (computer-aided design) automatically generated in the size you ordered, which is sent to the direct metal printer. Essentially, you can order during the day and production begins that night. After that, it goes for stone-setting and finishing, which are done by hand. Ideally, this would let us cut production time from four weeks to a week – or even less than that.
For ByCanary’s launch, one of your collections was a collaboration with Ung Yiu Lin, a Malaysian fashion designer and owner of multi-label store ShoesShoesShoes. How do you choose your partners?
Yiu Lin’s style can be casual yet still very funky and glamorous as well. She wanted designs that were modular and could be worn in different ways. We want to work with people from different parts of the world who bring different experiences to our designs.
Things like virtual consultations are now standard things that we have to do. Going forward, it’s also about embracing different aspects of technology, especially when it comes to how we communicate with collaborators and customers, and track that journey. Right now, if you visit Canary Diamond's Instagram page and then DM us, we will follow up by getting your contact details and creating a connection. Subsequently, if you go to our store, we have a system that allows me to track the salesperson who served you online, whether or not a transaction went through and even why it didn’t go through – basically, the whole customer journey.
How can you improve customer experience with technology?
Soon, when you visit our website, we might ask you questions like “How are you feeling today?”, “What colours do you like?” and “How would you describe your style?” These could be in the form of a questionnaire. Using artificial intelligence, the website then recommends products suitable for you, so you don’t have to look through pages of products. We would know who you are by asking the right questions.
How else can technology improve the online jewellery-buying process?
One of my main issues now is how to shorten the time between placing an order and the time it takes to reach a customer. Currently, we 3D-print a wax model to make a mould and add gold to create a piece of jewellery before it’s sent for stone-setting and finishing. Going forward, we’re looking into what we call direct metal printing, which involves using a powdered form of metal and laser to build the actual product.
What I aim to do next year is this: the moment you order, say, a ring, I’ll immediately have a CAD (computer-aided design) automatically generated in the size you ordered, which is sent to the direct metal printer. Essentially, you can order during the day and production begins that night. After that, it goes for stone-setting and finishing, which are done by hand. Ideally, this would let us cut production time from four weeks to a week – or even less than that.
For ByCanary’s launch, one of your collections was a collaboration with Ung Yiu Lin, a Malaysian fashion designer and owner of multi-label store ShoesShoesShoes. How do you choose your partners?
Creative director
SHOW OF STRENGTH
How challenging times led a fashion veteran to achieve a significant new milestone in his 30th year in the industry.
This year, fashion producer and director Daniel Boey, also known as Singapore’s godfather of fashion, celebrates his 30th year in the business. The industry veteran commemorated the milestone with The Front Row, Singapore’s first virtual fashion festival – a groundbreaking event that might not have happened if it weren't for Covid-19.
Speaking to us via Zoom from his well-appointed apartment, where he also conducted live chats with the designers who participated in The Front Row, he reveals that the idea for the event first came about when several others he was working on were cancelled from as early as February. “It was quite scary. I was worried about how the designers, stylists and models were coping. While talking to my contemporaries from Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, we decided we should do something together.”
He tells us more about the 10-day event that showcased 31 local and 10 regional labels and involved creative video presentations, workshops, live chats and podcasts. He also talks about how he hopes it will evolve in an unpredictable future.
The Front Row is Singapore’s first virtual fashion festival, and a first for you as a fashion producer, too. Were you daunted by the technological aspect of putting it together?
My team (Daniel Boey Creatives) and I started preparing for it in April. I put the word out that I needed tech partners who understood my vision and would allow me to boss them around while holding my hand through this journey [laughs]. Nick Tan, founder and managing director of AP Media, reached out. That gave me a lot more confidence. He once shot a video for me for Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) and I liked how it was a collaborative process. I also attended courses because I didn’t know a thing about digital technology.
What courses did you attend?
Mostly private sessions by industry practitioners and others organised by Singapore Management University. I am part of the Star (Singapore Talent, Artistes and Resources) Association and it has also been very supportive in helping us to update our skill sets and organising talks and classes.
One of the talks I attended was by tech consultant Ang Ming Song, who taught us about the possibilities of working with green screen technology. I also spoke extensively with Benjamin Kee of digital entertainment company Anomalyst Studio, whom I eventually worked with on the Nafa virtual graduation fashion show that was part of The Front Row.
The Front Row website has a fashion village concept with different zones modelled after iconic local spots. The Runway Room, for instance, is modelled after the old National Theatre. Why choose this 360-degree 3D format?
The first thing I told the website designers was that I did not want a 2D site, where you just click on a label and it leads you to another flat 2D portal. I wanted something more exciting and with a bit of Singapore flavour, but creatively interpreted. However, we might have gotten a bit carried away. In the future, we need to make it easier to navigate while still retaining that element of creativity.
The Front Row’s designers included veterans like Max Tan and Marilyn Tan Jewellery and young names like Shirt Number White. How did you choose the brands?
I chose designers people wanted to see and buy. We started with a list of our favourite labels and asked the designers and their customers which labels they wanted to see. Also, the labels had to have a retail portal. I wanted this to be a B2C (business to consumer) event, not B2B. It was never meant to be a pretentious showcase. I wanted to help the industry to get money and actual sales.
One of the challenges I gave the film team was that every show had to be different. Otherwise, it would be like going to a physical fashion festival, where you just sit down in the same tent every day. They had to be entertaining and educational – and make viewers want to buy the clothes. For the Singapore designers, we shot more than 20 videos over three weeks, not including post-production work.
What’s next for The Front Row?
My regional contemporaries and I were chatting with a Filipino blogger when we came up with: why not do an international edition of The Front Row? I’ve had designer friends from the UK asking how they can be a part of it. I’m also hoping to include Australian and Korean elements. You see this happening in Paris, Milan, London, New York; international designers fly there to show their collections. If it weren't for digital technology, this may not have happened in this part of the world. Singapore can be the centre for this because our Wi-Fi is very strong [laughs]. Also, our tech creatives are some of the best in the world. I never realised that before and this makes me very proud.
