In February 2014, Parco Marina Bay closed. With it, the Parco Next Next fashion incubator ended a four-year run that had given young Singapore designers a shopfront, a mentorship programme and a route abroad. As the project wound down, many of its alumni were already lining up their next moves.
Those plans included a first flagship store in Taipei, a multi-label boutique on Orchard Road, a debut accessories line and a return to formal study. Details below are as the designers described them in spring 2014.
How the incubator worked
Parco Next Next started in 2010 as a fashion incubator for promising local designers. Each batch went through an 18-month training and mentorship programme. Its distinguishing feature was retail. Designers were given a free storefront inside Parco at Millenia Walk, fitted out to reflect their branding. They were also expected to spend eight hours a week on the shop floor, so that they learned from customers first-hand.
The project was run by Parco Singapore and the Textile & Fashion Federation (Singapore), with support from International Enterprise Singapore, as one participating designer later recalled. Parco’s own corporate site says it has supported 55 brands in total.
The third batch, 18 local labels, made its retail debut in April 2012. Among them were 20:Twothree, 2HB, Alexandria Chen, Episene, Evenodd, Kae Hana, Lion Earl, Mash-Up, Revasseur and Saloni Rathor. Mash-Up’s three founders said at the time that they hoped their batch would make Singaporeans pay closer attention to local designers.
The plans of 2014
Evenodd and Revasseur. Samuel Wong of menswear label Evenodd said that a celebrity investor was backing a first stand-alone Evenodd store in Taipei. He also hoped to bring the brand to China by the end of 2014. At home, he and Revasseur’s Gilda Su were opening Superspace, a multi-label shop and salon at the newly opened Orchard Gateway mall. They were joined by a third partner, Bobby Luo of The Butter Factory, and the opening was scheduled for 29 April 2014.
The two designers described the shop as split between a printed side and a monochrome side, with Evenodd on the monochrome side. Superspace was to stock Singapore labels alongside streetwear and cult brands from Japan, Europe and elsewhere. Wong said that customers who had travelled from Jakarta to buy at Parco Next Next made stepping out on their own a significant move.
Su also planned to show a new collection at Audi Fashion Festival, held from 14 to 18 May 2014, in a showcase alongside Dzojchen, Mae Pang, Aijek and 2HB. She had been commissioned to design costumes with a Cirque du Soleil-style flair.
Mash-Up. The streetwear trio of Daniela Monasterios Tan, Nathanael Ng and Shaf Amis’aabudin wanted to continue what they were doing and add overseas stockists. The label was then sold in Indonesia and Malaysia. Their list of plans for 2014 included:
- DIY fashion workshops with the National Library Board;
- a return to the Blueprint Emporium in May 2014;
- continued “bash-up!” events with The Butter Factory;
- T-shirts for the second Uniqlo Feel the SEA collection;
- custom headphones for Pioneer.
New directions
Lionel Low of Lion Earl planned an eponymous premium ready-to-wear label of handcrafted, draped womenswear, and said he was already talking to stockists. His co-founder Hariz Lim would carry on Lion Earl alone, in smaller collections.
Kae Hana was preparing a line of accessories and bags, after customers asked for her prints on a smaller scale, such as tote bags. She also hoped to open a multi-label shop for Singapore labels, reasoning that if stockists were hard to find, designers could stock their own.
Lee Yun Ting of Episene wanted to find stockists in Japan, where she felt her designs were better received, and to move to online retail for future collections. She was also working on custom orders for private clients.
Saloni Rathor, who was self-taught, intended to take a formal fashion design course to learn more about textiles and garment construction. She also planned more custom work and limited-edition pieces for Gnossem and Victoria Juomo, the newest stockist of her label.
Alexandria Chen and 20:Twothree both planned to carry on with smaller seasonal output. Chen was concentrating on made-to-measure commissions and leather accessories. Her Spring Summer 2014 collection was due at the new multi-label boutique Sarah B. at Raffles Place. Genevieve Goh of 20:Twothree had just returned from launching the label’s Spring Summer 2014 line at the Singaporium pop-up in Parco Shibuya, Tokyo. She planned a Singapore launch next.
Where things stand
These were intentions stated in 2014. Parco’s own corporate pages continue to describe Parco Next Next as a project that fostered young Singaporean designers.