ˇ°My father has a handicraft company. I worked for him when I left school and learnt a lot about running a business. Experience is so important before starting a business.
In truth, I'm a fashion addict. I love window shopping, talking about and buying clothes. Opening a clothing shop has always been my dream. The first shop I opened was in Causeway Bay because the rent was cheaper. However, we didn't have enough customers. So I opened a larger shop in Tsim Sha Tsui. It has local customers but also attracts tourists, especially Japanese. We sold American and Japanese brands. It did okay but I thought having my own brand would be better.
I love listening to rock music and playing the guitar. I thought of designing T-shirts with pop culture messages, such as ˇ®I Vote For Rock n' Roll' and ˇ®Music Is A Mission'. We release new T-shirts regularly so customers keep coming back. Out latest message is ˇ®Psychotic People'. Luckily, Eason Chan saw our designs and started wearing them. This gave us free publicity and his fans want to look like their idol. Kerry Ng from Cookies and Khalil Fong also wear our designs. |
The fashion industry in Hong Kong is very competitive. It's a small market and trends change quickly. Most young people buy Japanese brands so it's hard to attract them to local designs. If you want to open a shop, get experience, do a lot of research and find a busy location. If you want to make your own clothes, take your time to find clothes which look good and people want to wear. Make sure everything is high quality, especially printing on T-shirts. To be honest, I wouldn't advise people to enter this industry!
I guess casual holiday wear will be popular this summer, a relaxing style with a resort feel. Let's hope my T-shirts are also hot items!ˇ±
Here are two of Koby's T-shirts. |
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Career 
This is Koby Au. He owns a clothing shop in Tsim Sha Tsui and has a label which makes T-shirts and caps. Find out how to become a fashion entrepreneur here.