How Three Southeast Asian Brands Have Gone Global
Peggy Hartanto, .ARCHIVES, and GHOSTBOY
By Vanya Harapan
Southeast Asia has been a strong market for fashion consumption. As the interest in fashion continues to grow among the youth of the region, a new generation of creatives and brands is blossoming on the scene. There is no shortage of inspiration and resources for these young talents, and the possibility of going global also seems easier than ever. Yet, with an increasing number of competitors in the field, how can young, upcoming brands successfully stand out and find their distinctive factor to expand their audience outside their home country? To answer this question, Fashion & Market reached out to three Southeast Asian brands, Peggy Hartanto, .ARCHIVES and GHOSTBOY, who all have an international audience, to get first-hand insights into their journeys.
The sisters behind Peggy Hartanto: Petty, Peggy, and Lydia Hartanto. Photo by Kezia Adina. Image courtesy of Peggy Hartanto.
Peggy Hartanto, Indonesia
A brand from the region that has climbed to global success is Peggy Hartanto. The namesake brand is led by the designer Peggy Hartanto, together with her sisters Lydia Hartanto, who handles the brand’s business aspects, and Petty Hartanto, who works on marketing. Not only is Hartanto a household name in the local fashion scene, but her clothes and pieces have been shown on runways and showrooms across the globe, and her collections are also stocked at retailers in Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and more. Of course, it took years for the brand to have this reach, and Lydia, shared with us the steps they took to get here.
“The story starts when we first had the chance to show for Jakarta Fashion Week. It was when we were debuting our brand,” she recalls. “For Spring/Summer 2013, we released a collection called ‘Unseen’.” Afterwards, the brand received coverage from local media about the presentation, which gave them the confidence to start sending their lookbooks to public relations agencies and the foreign media. Eventually, several agencies reached out to them with an interest in representing the brand. Not long after they signed with the Brooklyn PR, an outfit was worn by Giuliana Rancic on the TV show Fashion Police. When the news came that a famed TV host was sporting an Indonesian designer at a fashion critique show, there was growing interest in Peggy Hartanto. This celebrity sighting was the first of many for Hartanto as they reached the radar of Hollywood stylists, including Beyonce’s.
Peggy making final adjustments on a model’s look before she walks the ELLE Vietnam 2023 show. Photo by DAINGO STUDIO. Image courtesy of Peggy Hartanto/ELLE Vietnam.
As Hartanto slowly made their name in the Hollywood scene, they started to receive attention from foreign retailers and e-commerce to pick up their brand. With an increase in celebrity clients, the brand also had an increase in retailers who were interested in stocking the brand. The brand also joined showrooms in different cities, such as Paris, to allow potential buyers and customers to see and feel their pieces offline. Most recently, the brand showed their "Charm" collection for the ELLE Vietnam Fashion 2023 show.
A portrait of .ARCHIVES’ co-founder, Ellis Co. Photo by Julius Cesar Aragon. Image courtesy of .ARCHIVES.
Another Southeast Asian-led brand reaching foreign audiences is .ARCHIVES from the Philippines. Founded by Ellis Co and Reika Mayani, it is an up-and-coming name not only in the Philippines but also in Asia, as their futuristic take on urban fashion has caught the eyes of celebrities, fashion enthusiasts, and buyers. Recently, the brand has stepped foot into the Japanese market as they presented their Spring/Summer 2024 collection in Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo, and held pop-up stores in Shibuya and Shinjuku shortly after which, they offered pop-up exclusive pieces.
To Co, this opportunity to reach new markets was not earned overnight as they initially struggled to connect with the target audience they had in mind for the brand. But as they started to build relationships with other creatives in the scene, they were connected to fellow professionals and consignment stores abroad, along with artists and public figures who aligned with the brand’s aesthetics and target market. “In this industry, it is important to know who to surround yourself with, especially as a creative, since our art revolves around the people in our lives,” says the designer. “I think that finding a platform or people who represent you in these international countries is important, especially through consignment stores, since they are able to expose your brand to their audiences.”
A visitor trying on the brand’s Dino jacket at their pop-up in H4LO, Shibuya. Photo by JM Flores. Image courtesy of .ARCHIVES.
Making connections with overseas creatives, such as in Paris and Tokyo, is important to the duo. “We make an effort to travel to these countries and interact with the community,” says Co. “We would try visiting stores or attending pop-ups and events to better understand the foreign markets.” Although it is now easy to find out about people and places from other countries online, meeting with them and immersing themselves in the environment allows for a deeper understanding of the wants of buyers and consumers on a deeper level.
The two founders of GHOSTBOY, Cyii Cheng and David Han. Image courtesy of GHOSTBOY.
GHOSTBOY, Malaysia
Over in Malaysia, the young and contemporary GHOSTBOY is one of the brands that has attracted the attention of foreign fashion enthusiasts as well. Founded in 2020 by Cyii Cheng and Han David, it has grown steadily to step into the neighbouring Singapore market, as well as offering global shipping. GHOSTBOY has a distinct aesthetic that mixes Asian design influences into subversive and contemporary pieces. In their own words, “Ghostboy’s creations pay homage to those who regard the irregular as their regular.”
The founders started selling their pieces through Instagram as a sales channel from the get-go. They were listing their one-off creations and sold the piece to whoever was first to comment or offer the highest prices. By starting off their business this way, they were able to get 100+ comments on their early posts, which gave them a great start with the account’s algorithm on Instagram. It now has 17.8K followers on the platform.
Sketches and moodboards of GHOSTBOY’s 2023 CNY collection that they have shared on Instagram. Image courtesy of GHOSTBOY.
Through this approach, they were able to grow their social media audience, and word spread quite quickly. “The first International audience we targeted was Singapore, which was convenient, because of its geographical proximity to Malaysia,” says Cheng, “We have a lot of friends in Singapore who shared our work, and our reach grew organically. Now, we connect with international audiences by sponsoring fashionable girls with influence from Asia and Australia.”
Although the brand has an image of a niche, cult-following brand, it offers a wide range of products that can be styled with wardrobes of different aesthetics. Whether it is basics, like their Elixir tank, and their Cleric Qipao, or occasion wear, like their Dragon Claw dress and Antimony dress, they try their best to incorporate the GHOSTBOY DNA into clothing that suits different cultures and contexts. For example, their reinterpretation of traditional Chinese clothing, like their Heron studded denim jacket, was fast to sell-out on their website, with its release being strategically timed with Chinese New Year. They have also dived into less trendy aesthetics, like grunge and subversive fashion, with pieces like the Ragged skorts and leg warmer set along with the Deadbeat shorts also selling out on their site.
A fit model is trying out the brand’s SS24 collection pieces, which were posted as a teaser on social media. Image courtesy of GHOSTBOY.
By experimenting with different trends and aesthetics, GHOSTBOY is able to attract a more diverse audience. “We notice that a lot of our items that are more “out there” than our basics tend to do well in regions like Australia, the US, and Europe,” explains Cheng. “Sleeveless tops and crop tops do well in countries closer to the equator for obvious reasons.” As they analyse the different consumption patterns of their targeted demographics, the brand is now able to strategise how they can shape their brand to appeal to different markets.
These three brands grew their audiences through their unique journeys and approaches. Yet, there is one connecting factor: each of the brands has — a distinct voice and identity. “For every show, we try to create a multi-sensory experience not only with the clothes but also the music, the scent, the food, and the set. By making it a cohesive experience, I think we are able to convey our vision intimately to our audience,” Co shares. For GHOSTBOY, Cheng shares that besides the brand’s signature traditional-meets-modern aesthetic, the transparency and openness in their creative process also spark interest among fashion enthusiasts.
The closing scene of Peggy Hartanto’s recent presentation for the 2023 ELLE Vietnam. Photo by DAINGO Studio. Image courtesy of Peggy Hartanto/ELLE Vietnam.
For Hartanto, they share that it is a priority not just to be clear on the brand’s whimsical and fantasy-inspired storytelling and design direction but also to remain consistent. In order to do so, it is vital for them to ensure that they have the technical knowledge, as well as the feedback to ensure that the quality of the brand’s output is not diminished. Lastly, Hartanto advises fellow creatives to endure and persevere. She elaborates,“This is a long marathon, not a sprint, and until now, this is still one of the aspects that we are consistently putting our efforts in.”
About the writer
Vanya Harapan is a Jakarta-based fashion journalist and stylist with a background in luxury marketing and PR. Her works aim to uncover the ins and outs of the fashion industry and tell the stories of unsung talents. Find more of Vanya’s work on Instagram at @v.xnya.
