Is Unik Unique?
Founder Xavier Tan explains
Why business?
I came from a village in Malaysia, and a complicated family and school life. I was desperate to survive in Singapore. Helping print school t-shirts was a money-making opportunity.
In secondary school, I recruited “ambassadors” from other schools so that the brand would expand beyond my friends. I was the middleman between suppliers and customers.
I like finding problems, solving problems, selling problems.
I work hard to make my mom proud. I also want to be a millionaire and retire by thirty.
Growing up poor to creating fashion…
I loved dressing Barbie dolls secretly, and admired the costumes from period dramas like 宮心計.
A few years ago, I saw many young people starting “streetwear” brands. They were expressing themselves. I wanted to express myself too. I like dressing up. Maybe it’s ugly, but at least it’s different. I wanted Unik, the rebrand of Typographic, to celebrate that difference.
Unik.
We reach out to a group of youth to collaborate, tell their stories. We also work with a graphic designer to moodboard, create artwork. We hope to build a channel on our website for people to submit stories or artwork for our evaluation.
Many don’t want to disclose their names, feel they’re the only ones facing them. We’ve received emails asking whose stories they are “buying.” We plan to conduct talk sessions to spark true conversations: when our customers, storytellers and Unik team meet-up.
Our shirts are free-size, iron-free, feature a mock neck.
We are still growing. We need to be more deliberate in our branding.
Trends are opportunities. We need to make it “unique.”
Breakthrough?
Sam Smith performed in Singapore in 2018. We had a youth LGBTQ story line we wanted to share with him. Caught him backstage; he invited us to his MBS afterparty. He bought a few pieces. Our collection “travelled” to 27 countries and cities, sold out the next day.
We made a huge loss, hadn’t factored in international shipping. But it was worth it.
Next?
Our first year anniversary, on 24 August! Our upcoming launch will be in collaboration with a tattoo artist, and our first cut-and-sew series. We also hope to meet customers soon to discuss stories.
