Cover Zerrin’s Crafting Change: Best of Asia pop‐up in Anchorpoint, which featured a curated selection of sustainable brands
Zerrin’s Crafting Change: Best of Asia pop‐up in Anchorpoint, which featured a curated selection of sustainable brands
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Zerrin founder Susannah Jaffer shares how the e‐commerce and media platform is driving the dialogue on sustainable fashion beyond buzzwords, through curation, content and community
The fashion industry today reflects a broader societal reckoning with its shift towards sustainability and ethical consumerism. This is mirrored in the personal and professional trajectories of Susannah Jaffer, the founder of Zerrin, a Singapore‐based curated marketplace and media platform championing emerging brands and sustainable consumption.
After moving to Singapore from the UK in 2012, Jaffer worked as a magazine editor, gradually shifting her focus towards emerging brands committed to environmental and social responsibility. Over time, she noticed the absence of sustainable retail platforms that merge careful curation, community involvement and engaging content. Motivated to counter the overconsumption of fast fashion, she founded Zerrin in 2017. Today, Jaffer is recognised as a steward of sustainable fashion in Singapore. However, for all of the sector’s strides towards sustainability, therein lies a growing challenge of consumer desensitisation, brought on by the overuse of terms such as “sustainability” and “sustainable fashion” in the media and retail spaces, as well as on a governmental level. Jaffer observes: “[The situation has] reached a tipping point [where,] much like buzzwords such as ‘Black Friday’, [such terms] don’t excite us anymore from a marketing perspective.”
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Above Founder of Zerrin, Susannah Jaffer
Founder of Zerrin, Susannah Jaffer
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To navigate this challenge, Jaffer turned to pop‐ups as a strategic tool to connect with consumers. More than sales opportunities, they are what she calls “concentrated learning experiences” for Zerrin, as they offer direct insights into attitudes towards sustainable products. Whether through pop‐ups or its e‐commerce platform, Zerrin distinguishes itself from other sustainable retail sites or independent shopping fairs by playing curator. “There’s significant competition ... but we make our smaller and more intimate events feel like curated stores,” she says, sharing that she is “selective and strategic” in her approach, which involves research, building relationships
with brands, and attentiveness to cultural trends and consumer preferences. She strives for diversity in her selections as well, catering to different fashion sensibilities, from minimalist designs to bold prints and artisanal pieces.
This curation also involves refreshing pop‐ups with new‐to‐Singapore brands. Zerrin’s recent Crafting Change: Best of Asia event in Anchorpoint, for example, featured both local and international names. “I always find that mixing them uplifts both parties, as it [offers more harmony among] independent designers, responsible brands and sustainable practices. It’s not often that all of these brands are together in one place,” she says.
In selecting for Zerrin’s pop‐ups and online store, the team scrutinises each brand’s collection to assemble a diverse and unique selection based on an understanding of customer preferences and the synergy among the different brands. “We make sure that the brands don’t compete. We want each of them to stand out from a design and value proposition perspective,” Jaffer expounds. Zerrin is also committed to providing constructive feedback to brands on aspects such as fit and silhouette, which is not commonly practised in the industry. “This is one of the things that makes us different. Quite a few brands have said that no other retailers give them so much feedback. I find that quite surprising,” she muses.
This collaborative ethos highlights Zerrin’s dedication to fostering a supportive environment for sustainable brands, driven by the belief that better products
and well‐thought‐out designs not only benefit the brands, but also enhance Zerrin’s mission. “I offer this feedback sincerely, aiming for both the brands and us to succeed. We want to reinforce the perception of independent brands being truly good quality and worth the higher price points,” she explains.
Above Zerrin’s Crafting Change: Best of Asia pop‐up in Anchorpoint, which featured a curated selection of sustainable brands
Zerrin’s Crafting Change: Best of Asia pop‐up in Anchorpoint, which featured a curated selection of sustainable brands
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Jaffer emphasises the importance of creating memorable experiences for visitors at Zerrin pop‐ups, regardless of whether they make a purchase. “We’re not hard‐selling to people,” she says. “We curate the best, tell the story, share it and promote all the brands. I want [those who visit us] to walk away [having found] something they love, or at least, having learnt something.”
This philosophy is the intention behind each pop‐up—to offer an educational, enriching experience that resonates with clients on a personal level. “We want to use these pop‐ups as opportunities to show how you can be a more thoughtful shopper, whether it’s wearing what you have more [often], being more mindful with purchases, or [styling] in a way that you feel expresses [yourself ],” she posits. Through these experiences, Zerrin aims to navigate the challenges of consumer desensitisation with a nuanced approach that aims to “touch people again”.
Jaffer’s experience leading Zerrin has been shaped by community needs, driving her towards exhaustive work periods for the sake of pop‐ups, and a now‐defunct physical store at Marina One. “For a year and a half, I worked almost seven days a week, non‐stop, to man the physical store, run the business, and concurrently do our media content and agency work,” she says. “I burnt myself out. But I was adamant that this was what we had to do, because it was what our customers and brands wanted. It benefited us too.”
Above Zerrin’s pop‐ups comprise a mix of vendors, including jewellery brands.
Zerrin’s pop‐ups comprise a mix of vendors, including jewellery brands.
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While Jaffer admits that the decision to close the Marina One space was a hard one, she says that it was one of the factors that led her to a personal revelation about the importance of listening to one’s own voice in business. “Ultimately, the foundation of what I wanted for the business became shaky because I was listening to everyone too much. It has been challenging to divorce myself from the idea that the value of my business is defined by what others are saying,” she shares.
Jaffer is choosing “balance” as her word of the year. “There’s so much to do day‐to‐day, with so many deliverables, whether it’s store operations, or shoots and production. I lost my own voice within all of that,” she says. “Now, I’m building the business that I want first. My own personal challenge is to refine and retune that.”
Zerrin will persist with pop‐ups, which Jaffer values for their flexibility as well as ability to quickly connect with diverse audiences. She aims to elevate Zerrin to international recognition, leveraging the freedom from a fixed store to adapt across markets such as Malaysia and Hong Kong. She also envisions Zerrin as more than
a retail brand, aiming to create a digital lifestyle guide with editorial content promoting thoughtful consumption. “This can grow our audience and feed into the pop‐up experiences,” she suggests. “The dialogue around shopping better is linked with other aspects of your lifestyle. We’re all craving more intention in how we live. We want to address that.”
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Credits
Photography: Zerrin, Susannah Jaffer
Nafeesa Saini is the Features Editor at Tatler Singapore, where she shapes long-form stories on culture, business, philanthropy, wellness, and the people driving change in Asia. With a deep interest in storytelling that intersects meaningfully with identity and impact, she has profiled a diverse range of visionaries, from scientific pioneers in AI and health to creative trailblazers and literary minds.
Nafeesa’s writing includes cover stories and profiles that spotlight influential voices, alongside commentary on the trends reshaping our world.
Off the clock, Nafeesa unwinds with fiction, a good thrift hunt, and ‘brainrot’ TikTok scroll—while always keeping one eye on her next cultural getaway, usually to Indonesia.
