We find out how the founders of Style Theory are reducing fashion waste by teaching those in Asia about the concept of shared wardrobes
How I’m Making It is a weekly series in which Tatler speaks to influential individuals about their unique journeys and what keeps them going.
When Raena Lim and Chris Halim started Style Theory, they did so simply to solve a problem men and women face daily. The problem of having nothing to wear.
“One day Chris looked at me and my bursting closet and asked me why women often complain that they have nothing to wear when they have wardrobes full of clothes,” said Lim with a smile. “This was the ‘aha’ moment that led us to realise that there was a problem that we could solve in the industry.”
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Today, with over two million rentals across Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong and 600,000 preloved designer wear items in its docket, Style Theory is Southeast Asia’s largest fashion subscription rental platform.
And it’s safe to say that the duo have managed to make a significant dent in the global fight towards less waste and more sustainable ways of living.
Considering how neither one of them had any experience in the fashion industry and Lim did not know anything about start-ups till later on in life, this was quite a feat.
Halim started his career as a senior associate consultant at Bain & Company, a management consulting firm where he dealt with clients in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Lim on the other hand graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Organisational Consulting from the University of British Columbia and then went on to volunteer as president of the Global Initiatives for Village Empowerment (GIVE) in Kenya.
“I was setting up micro-financing loans to empower communities to break out of the poverty cycle. We also empowered women in financial knowledge through a financial curriculum and built a community savings plan to help them to save for their kids’ education and medical fees,” Lim shared before adding that she later moved on to Goldman Sachs where she was a senior associate for just over four years.
“At that point, I was a major contributor to the fashion industry and I was very ignorant about how wasteful it all was. I would buy tons of clothes and store them in my wardrobe thinking I’ll wear them someday, but eventually would throw or give them away in large bags during spring cleaning every Chinese New Year,“ Lim admitted.
This was when they decided to attempt to solve the problem of fashion wastage.
“I was looking to work in an organization where I could make an impact for a cause I believe in, so it wasn’t difficult when we took the plunge to start Style Theory, a startup that solves such an obvious problem for women and which can help shape a more sustainable fashion future,“ Lim said before adding that the couple, in a daring move, decided to quit both their full-time jobs and invest as much as possible into their new venture.
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