Union Studios Support Underground Streetwear; Don’t Stock Supreme, Champion, Fila
They’re also the only Revenge X Storm Singaporean stockist (who made the shoe a thing)
One perk of running an interview-based blog is that I’m not the only “editor” looking for new brands/people to feature. After chatting with someone for a story, I usually ask them who their coolest/most interesting friends are, and use those names as references for new story ideas.
Union Studios is perhaps the best example of a store I’d not heard of (but had been sold so confidently by friends) that it’s become a space I’m excited to witness grow.
Speaking of, they’re hosting a pop-up event at their story today called “Tokyo Day” featuring Japanese streetwear brands you’ve never heard of. Expect free drinks, free conversations with the delightful Shan/Shawn (Shanmugam) and Hanny (kind of like “Honey” with a ghetto slang) and a free feast on alternative streetwear.
Hanny comments, “If you visit Harajuku often enough, you’ll see Kanye West and Virgil Abloh hanging out there for inspiration. Why not bring brands there here?”
My chat with Hanny:
Union Studios.
How we are: Shan woke up one morning and said he thinks we should get married. We were engaged. We threw a rooftop party for family/friends on New Year’s Eve.
We worked with a partner as the second reseller store in Singapore. Shan knew to be in business for the long-run, we needed to pivot our business in one year.
Nobody wore many of the brands we carried before we carried them. The second brand Shan brought in was Strawberry Mansion, owned by Ian Connor’s buddy. (Shan knows Ian Connor and friends. He’s a Revenge X Storm collector, they’re all sitting at home. Trade shows, communication with brand owners overseas.)
For two months, we sold none of it.
Then Virgil Abloh wore it.
We had to restock it twice. We joked with customers we should’ve sold our stuff at resale value. They didn’t want to buy it when we first told them to.
We’ve a reputation of spotting brands celebrities and artistes would potentially end up wearing. Revenge X Storm by Ian Connor, Strawberry Maison worn by Virgil Abloh, Durag Dev worn by Billie Eilish.
No online store.
We refuse to have one (no personalised experience). You can DM us and tell us what you want, we’ll pack your items for you. Customers come to our store from the airport and go. If not, we can ship things to them. 80% of our customers are foreigners. We’re featured heavily in Chinese media.
No influencers.
The first thing they think: How much am I getting paid? How much do they care about the brands they’re selling? We only work directly with brands; don’t even work with distributors.
Story.
First time customers will spend hours in our store. We don’t cater to people who buy $29.90 for shorts. Our customers look for differentiating factor. We’ve never carried Champion, Chinatown Market, Carrots, Rip N Dip. People will walk into luxury stores and spend thousands but are reluctant help small brands grow. We’ve to keep telling them brands’ stories.
