�t always have to follow fashion trends or be coerced by luxury brands,” Chloe Zhang, founder of Supermint, told Inside Retail. In the new store, fashion and art enthusiasts can discover the full and latest collection of original clothing and jewellery from cutting-edge designers across Asia all under one roof.  “Minimalism is a keyword for Supermint, less is more, buy less is better,” Zhang noted, adding that the company is committed towards creating and building a designer community and is intent on sharing the same core value to all of its stakeholders. Supermint will also hold exhibitions and workshops every month to help savvy customers connect with the designers and artists to learn about their inspiration and the stories behind their work. “We want to share the emotions of creating fashion pieces, and let customers understand the process of creation whilst connecting them with these passionate designers,” she stated. The brand will be engaging jewellery designer Carrie Yang to give workshops and explain her bespoke services from designing to stone selection and the final steps of handcrafting unique pieces. Supermint will also partner with the Wall Poster Club (WPC), which selects talented artists and stunning artwork worldwide, to host a “Fashion + Art” exhibition in September. “For us, fashion, art and music have a sense of continuity, and the expansion of art and design are all linked together in creativity. So we wanted to create a joyful connection between fashion and art with WPC,” Zhang said. She hopes that this collaboration will result in more artists coming on board, and the brand is intent on creating more crossover fashion pieces together to promote its design community to the masses. Interestingly, Zhang is looking into creating non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for art pieces, and these art pieces will also have a version of physical artworks too. “It’s not just online or digital artwork, we want to make sure there is a physical artwork that is paired with these creations, so customers can walk into our stores and collect the physical art pieces too,” she added. The modern woman Zhang feels that her customers, who are mostly female, are more attuned towards being environmentally responsible and conscious about sustainability issues. “Being different, buying different, it’s all important for the modern woman, and Millennials are looking for minimalist looks, no more big logos, no more walking advertisements,” she said. She is looking toward having more pop-up stores in the future, and her motto is to create more fun in this space and connect audiences with designers in the fashion industry. “We want to create a deeper link between consumers and fashion designers and help our local designers promote their brands to international markets. Supermint will feature at Fashion Week in Hong Kong in early September, and Zhang is committed to helping more young designers develop their international presence through this initiative. Market realities This has been a challenging year for Supermint, as operations in Hong Kong and China have struggled with movement restrictions, a result of the government’s zero covid policy, said Zhang. Nonetheless, she credits the e-commerce component of her business with shouldering the burden of expectation. “Our e-commerce journey has been great, since more and more people are using social media, creating advertising campaigns online has become easier for us too,” she added. So far, the designers are thriving on her platform, and are benefiting from having a professional platform that has a competent back end and fulfilment service. According to Zhang, there are fewer tourists in Hong Kong right now, mostly due to the government’s strict Covid-19 protocols and prevailing movement restrictions. “Hong Kong used to be the biggest retail market in Asia, but right now some places are going through quite a downturn, and when there are fewer tourists, it means less traffic and less spending power,” she noted. At the moment, the brand has been growing organically, primarily from word-of-mouth marketing among customers who have had favourable experiences with the brand. Zhang is concentrating on mainland China as she feels it’s an easier market for her to navigate. Educating the market through advertising campaigns is cheaper, making it easier to engage with Chinese customers. Different mindsets Zhang feels for now the brand is going to concentrate on the Chinese market as international advertising campaigns could be too costly and lengthy to execute. “Western customers are cautious, and we will have to spend a lot of money on creating alternative advertising campaigns to educate consumers in these markets, and it will be a longer process as compared to our forays in China,” she added. Supermint has a WeChat and Taobao presence in China. The brand uses RedBook and TikTok as the main social media channels to sell its products in the marketplace. Like plenty of savvy businesses in Asia, Supermint engages key opinion leaders (KOLs) and key opinion consumers (KOCs) to create content for the brand. “Live Streaming is a big part of what we do, and Chinese customers are very quick to buy products via promotions through these initiatives,” she added. For now, Zhang is trying to build up a strong foundation for Supermint’s operations in Hong Kong, as she wants to be the international gateway for Chinese designers in the future. “In the future, I foresee a saturated marketplace in China, and that’s why we have to build up a strong international distribution network to capitalise on this,” she added.