Who’s in your closet? Fashion entrepreneurs you didn’t know you knew

Tailored suits are a signature of Dzojchen, a luxury menswear brand founded by Chelsea Scott-Blackhall. Seen on the likes of Ryan Gosling, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal and Jenna Ortega, Dzojochen has built a name for itself with both custom and a ready-to-wear line.

With five million followers on Instagram alone, Cider is among China’s biggest fashion e-commerce platforms. Since then, the brand has also grown to make a mark in Europe and the US; celebrities and fashion influencers such as Millie Bobby Brown have been spotted wearing their goods. The man behind it all is Wang Chen and in 2021, the brand secured $130 million in Series B funding in 2021 from investors such as DST Global, A16z, and Greenoaks Capital. 

Gender-fluid fashion has been a form of expression for Ray Chu. His eponymous brand embraces diversity and inclusion guided by the pillars of sustainability. Its androgynous clothes are created using vegan leather and organic cotton. 

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Nadine Gaus weaves Indonesian heritage into her designs. Through her brand Wearing Klamby, she proudly shows off modest wear adorned with national flowers, etched onto national fabrics such as the Java textile, tenun garut. Even the name of the brand is derived from the Javanese term klambi, or clothing. Paving the way for inclusivity in both culture and religion, Gaus’ fashion line boasts millions of followers online and has been shown at London Fashion Week. 

Promoting female empowerment has been top of mind for Indonesian fashion entrepreneur Michelle Maryam. This is perhaps why her designs carry strong silhouettes: dynamic cuts and lines made with impressive fabrics in strong colours. Maryallé—an amalgamation of her first and last names “Michelle” and “Maryam”—currently has boutiques in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, New York, Europe and the Middle East, and has plans to further expand in Southeast Asia. 

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A former co-founder of Lazada Thailand, David Jou is no stranger to e-commerce. His current venture, Pomelo, is a digital fast-fashion brand that capitalises on trends. It services customers in more than 40 countries and has multiple offices across Southeast Asia. Offerings on Pomelo bank on popular styles, from pink co-ords inspired by the Barbie movie to sequinned tops and corsets in honour of Pride Month.

Paying homage to the vivacity of Thai culture, Rukpong Raimaturapong has created a fashion brand that is bright, colourful and easily recognised. His creativity has allowed him to play with a mixture of fabrics, textures and silhouettes. Before the nascence of his eponymous brand, Raimaturapong worked for luxury fashion houses Celine and Saint Laurent. In 2021, he became the first Thai designer to win the prestigious 19M des Métiers d’Art de Chanel prize.

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With the backing of Indonesian television presenter Deddy Corbuzier, Erigo is on track to become one of Indonesia’s most well-recognised brands among the youth. Its founder Muhammad Sadad was able to take the brand to New York in 2021 for its debut at Fashion Week. Since then, Erigo has opened more than 100 pop-up stores and is among the top fashion brands on Indonesian e-commerce sites. Its products focus on core basics and wardrobe staples that cater to men and women, and has even collaborated on a line with Disney. 

A familiar name for Singaporean shoppers, Love, Bonito is best known for its clean-cut silhouettes and feminine styles. It has a presence across Asia including countries like Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Cambodia and the Philippines. In June 2023, the brand launched its first US pop-up store in New York’s Soho neighbourhood, marking its entry into the American market. Rachel Lim, who is the co-founder of the brand, is a fashion e-commerce pioneer in Singapore, who started the brand as a blog shop with two friends. 

Read more: How e-commerce entrepreneur Rachel Lim built her fashion empire

The co-founder and fashion designer of apparel brand Seivson, Jill Shen has been busy expanding her line across Japan, Paris and New York. Since establishing her brand in 2017, she and her co-founder Emily Song have been finding creative ways to marry fun silhouettes with voluminous designs. Experimenting with fabrics, Seivson blends the chic with the rugged, presenting its clientele with a laidback look of a modern cool girl.

What can passion build you? For Jemina Ty, the answer is a swimsuit empire. Dropping out of college to pursue her dream business has gotten her close to a million followers, not to mention plenty of attention from celebrities wearing her well-known brand, Blackbough Swim. The trendy swim line has expanded to include surf suits, maxi and mini dresses, and even a collaboration with the Amazon Prime Video TV series, The Summer I Turned Pretty. 

Pipatchara Kaeojinda cut her teeth at the likes of Chloé, Givenchy and Saint Laurent, before setting up her sustainable and elegant eponymous label. The designer-cum-influencer is best known for collaborating with artisans from northern Thai villages to craft her label’s macramé-covered leather bags. The label also creates womenswear, and its Infinitude collection, shown at Dubai Fashion, was made entirely from recyclable plastics. 

Jenn Lee’s innovative, experimental eponymous fashion label debuted in 2013 and has become a fixture at Taipei Fashion Week and made waves at London Fashion Week. She’s sometimes known as Taiwan's Vivienne Westwood, and her label is deeply reflective of her powerful personality, with a dark style and rebellious, cool image.

Her most recent Spring/Summer 2025 presentation at London Fashion Week combined fashion and wellness, with models marked by acupuncture points. The idea was to align the ethos of fashion as a healing practice. She collaborated with Qiaosi Yan, a fellow Taiwanese cosmetic acupuncture brand.

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Six months after launching his fashion line, Chris Nick was featured on numerous magazine covers and fashion shows. The colour-blind designer works with a predominantly jet-black colour palette and has gained recognition for his elegant, romantic silhouettes. In 2022, he also launched a bridal collection. He works closely with a group of models and influencers, whom he calls his “angels”. He has shown his pieces at Los Angeles Fashion Week, collaborated with brands such as Bally and Prada, and is an ambassador of Bulgari.

Read more: Meet Chris Nick, the designer putting Filipino fashion on the global map

Natalie Chow saw a gap in the market for comfortable, stylish, functional, sustainable and affordable sneakers. She had just returned to her full-time job in the luxury industry from maternity leave —still, in her spare time, she would experiment with different plant-based leathers to craft the perfect sneaker. She found apple leather to be the most suitable. As Kibo grew, she quit her full-time job to focus on building the brand.

Kibo also donates a portion of its revenues to Compassion First, a non-profit that aids human trafficking victims. A former manager for various luxury brands, the serial entrepreneur also co-founded the sustainable toy subscription service Happy Baton.

Read more: Kicks by Kibo: The Hong Kong brand making sneakers using apple waste

Thanisa Veerasakri’s Ravipa has always had a finger on the cultural pulse. The label shot to fame when Blackpink’s Lisa wore its amulets. And now, most recently, it has collaborated with Labubu on a collection of Labubu Baby charms. The brand, which has a presence in over 30 locations worldwide, was also the first Thai brand to collaborate with Disney, and it created charms based on the characters of the blockbuster movie Inside Out 2. 

Read more: My First: Ravipa’s Thanisa Veerasaksri on her company’s big break

Fern Chua is the woman behind Fern Batik + Artisanal Collective, where she designs luxurious resort wear using Malaysian batik, a traditional textile art featuring intricate, hand-dyed patterns and designs. Says Chua, “We are a design house formed to celebrate and rediscover the aesthetic elegance of the ancient fabric artform, batik.” To promote the traditional craft, she has worked with the likes of the British Council and The Balvenie to bring awareness to this art form. 

Read more: Modernising tradition: How young leaders are reviving Asia’s cultural heritage

Driven by a passion for sustainability, Charlotte Tsuei-Robinson founded Caelum Greene, a Hong Kong athleisure and lifestyle retailer. After seeing the environmental toll of the fashion industry, she sought to create a brand that prioritises ethical manufacturing and the use of recycled materials. Caelum Greene’s durable and stylish clothing can be found at their flagship store in the Landmark.

Read more: Caelum Greene’s founder on the rise of athleisure and making it sustainable

Meet more honourees in Fashion on the Gen.T List.

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