While her line of bedding may feel free and easy like Sunday mornings, this entrepreneur's journey to launching her luxury bedding and sleepwear brand was anything but. Read her story below
When Clara Teo first decided to launch Sunday Bedding, a direct-to-consumer bedding company in Singapore with her husband, Alex Fan, they had no staff and operated out of a 200-square-foot warehouse space. Today, the bedding company has a staff of nine and just opened its first two storefronts in Raffles City and i12 Katong.
Don’t miss: Pass It On Founder Michelle Chow on Launching an Online Store Focused on Sustainability
“The idea came about when my husband, Alex, moved to Singapore. His family has been in the home textiles business for many years and he is a walking expert about bedding,” Teo says.
“When we first moved into our apartment, we realised there was a huge gap in the market for reasonably priced, well-made and sustainable home textiles products. It was there when we wanted to demystify the purchasing and decision-making process around bedding and home textiles and help other customers make informed decisions.”
While the idea for creating bedding and home textiles was a simple one, the start-up was certainly tough, especially considering that Teo and Fan were new to branding and marketing and had no contacts in the industry.
“I graduated with a double degree in Accountancy and Business from Singapore Management University. After three years, I moved to New York to complete an MBA at Columbia Business School as I’d always been interested in retail and e-commerce,” explains Teo.
“After completing my MBA, I joined the global Consumer Finance team at Amazon, based out of Seattle, as part of their management program. After a short stint there, I moved back to Singapore after a year where I joined Zuellig Pharma and helped to build out the regional data analytics team.”