Can Singapore’s fashion brands take on the world?

In the heart of an old industrial estate in Toa Payoh North, an immaculately dressed Velda Tan sits in a small office as office workers, aunties wearing tight clothes and construction workers carry on with their lives outside. It’s the home of Tan’s latest fashion venture, Collate The Label, a humble but comfortable space, but with a well-equipped studio for fashion shoots, space for a dozen employees, stacks of sketches, fabric samples and magazines lying on tables and shelves, and even a doggy bowl for furry friends.

Collate The Label is one of many new fashion brands that have popped up in Singapore over the past few years, but it has been exceptional in its success so far. Although it’s only a few months old, the Singaporean mid-market womenswear brand, which launched in May at Singapore Fashion Week, will soon head to New York to participate in Coterie, a three-day fashion trade-show event, with the Textile and Fashion Federation Singapore (TAFF).

“I think, for me, (the aim) is really to build Collate as an independent Singapore label,” said the founder and creative director of the brand. “We want to identify ourselves as a local brand, and one of our goals is to make Singaporeans proud of wearing local labels.”

The local retail scene is certainly more vibrant than a decade ago. Local designers have been given more platforms, such as the annual Singapore Fashion Week and Digital Fashion Week, to showcase their works to an international audience. TAFF also works with government agencies such as SPRING Singapore and International Enterprise (IE) Singapore to organise events such as the Asian Fashion Exchange, a one-stop event for local designers, regional and international buyers and other industry professionals, as well as trips to about a dozen overseas fashion trade shows every year.