Written by Evely Tan and Nabil
Jimmy Lim is ready to look forward to the future. With his modern eccentric collection, the designer is one of the first few to make his ready-to-wear collection available on Lazada which allowed consumers to purchase the clothes directly after they livestreamed his show online. Curious to know his thoughts on this sphere, we had a chat with him to find out more on why he decided to go with this route.
Firstly, tell us a little bit about your latest collection.
My latest collection is called “Morph”. It’s for Spring/Summer 2020 so we’re showcasing for next year. The collection is inspired by Thangka Art when i went to Nepal recently and got inspired by all the art pieces where all the gods are floating and everything. I thought it was very futuristic and this is our 20th year so it was time that we look back at our past archives and pick like a few of our favourite looks and then we created it into something new. And that creates “Morph” And we wanted to morph it into something new for the label as well for more years to come.
What prompted the decision to make your apparel available on Lazada?
We have always been into technology. From the start of the internet, websites, online shops, bloggers, and then social media selling, all of it is a system built to sell, and now with Lazada, it’s such a huge platform, they’re such a huge market place. So, yes I am definitely very interested in getting onboard with the Lazada system and then I think it’s gonna be very great for the brand. And oh our show went livestream this year at the KLFW so it was very exciting.
Have sales been good with your decision to make your latest collection available on the internet straight?
Definitely went very well, i think it increase another 20-30%. It was quite interesting because this is the first time that we went very wide. The audience were very big, mass, cause before when we did KLFW it was just people around the mall, the media magazine but now with the Lazada live streaming, everything went live, even my parents were watching it on their phone! So it’s very very exciting.
And from then on, there was the recent event that we had the AI mirror where people can actually try things without having to change and that really encourages people to understand the brand. And that alone, we had customers who came to the shop because they went through the app and they saw, they try it on, they saw the app, the information, they came to the shop, they actually bought the garments. So I think it was very interesting for something very new for us. I think it’s going into a very very positive direction for the brand.
Do you think cutting out the middle person i.e retailers, both online and offline and go direct to consumer is the way forward to the business when it comes to fashion?
I think it’s less fuss. You don’t need to go to the middle person. I believe customers know what they want and a lot of people don’t like to be pressured to buy something. I’m sure you do too as well. So I think a lot of people love to do online shopping or e-commerce shopping because of this. And it’s very good from our side because we will only just make the product and we let the consumers buy, because they know just what they want to buy, so it’s a very clear transaction. I think it’s very good for both sides and both sides will be happy and then they give feedback to us so there’s still communication.
Some would argue that the retail experience is very much part of the core decisions to allow people to see, feel, and try your creations. With the absence of such senses, how do you think people would perceive your collections?
With the Jimmy Lim fans, they already understand the brand. So these are the people that they would know what Jimmy Lim’s garments would be like but I believe there would be like a group of people which is the online shoppers, and because they’re so used to online shopping, they know what they want and when they see the picture, they know what the garments would look like and I don’t think it would be a problem at all and people are moving into online shopping more and more now. And people don’t want the hassle to drive out or having to try the clothes on. I have so many female friends that don’t like to try clothes on, they’ll just buy online because it is easy and they know what they want. This I think, this is the era of consumer generation of shopping, and it’s moving towards that direction.
Do you think eliminating the retail experience altogether is the way forward, and the change necessary to adapt to today’s economical changes?
Online for sure. It will get bigger and bigger but it won’t eliminate retail. From our recent experience, we did the live streaming and then the AI mirror and then people actually came to our store because of that because all of the information is there. It’s simple because they can compare to other garments which is from another designer and then they can decide without the pressure. Hence, when they come to the store, they already know what to get and just buy straight. It was very interesting to observe.
Is environmental sustainability a factor in your decision to partner with Lazada?
Well we do want to cut down on plastics and things that everyone does. I think the good thing with online shopping is that people buy and people not driving out – they don’t have to drive so many places just to look for their garment because everything is in their phones and everything can be compared. They can compare prices and all that then they buy and you just need one delivery guy to deliver all your purchase. So, yes I think it’s environment sustainable.
What can we expect for your future work?
Future work, we are looking into doing more products for our Lazada store. We’re looking toward something easier to wear, you don’t have to worry about sizing so much friendlier price, we’re looking forward to that. And looking forward to more exciting ventures with Lazada or events and then KLFW next year, there will be a bigger one, so we’re looking forward to that for sure.
