The Conscious Cut
This podcast is dedicated to re-thinking sustainability in fashion and beyond. As a second-generation garment manufacturer, host Hoiki Liu has seen the challenges of overproduction, greenwashing, and unsustainable business models firsthand. Through conversations with entrepreneurs, innovators, and changemakers—especially those driving sustainable practices here in Hong Kong—we’ll explore real solutions for a more responsible and transparent future. Let’s cut through the noise and redefine sustainability together.
The Conscious Cut
Ep. 9 Sharing Wardrobes to Shape Sustainability w/ Louisa Dearlove
In this vibrant episode of The Conscious Cut, host Hoiki Liu welcomes Louisa Dearlove, founder of Fenxiang, Hong Kong’s first peer-to-peer fashion rental and resale platform. With a dynamic background in fashion and tech, Louisa shares her journey from working with brands like Vivienne Tam to launching a solution for the city’s fast-fashion overload. Fenxiang empowers users to share wardrobes, renting high-quality pieces for events or everyday wear, all without the waste of buying new. From tackling consumer stigma around secondhand clothing to building a trusting community, Louisa reveals how her platform fosters circular fashion and mindful consumption. Tune in to discover practical ways to rethink your wardrobe and join Hong Kong’s sustainable fashion movement.
Louisa Dearlove is the founder of Fenxiang.
Thank you for listening!
Welcome back to the Conscious Cut. Today, we have with us Louisa Dearlove. Louisa is the founder of Fenshao Fenxiang a peer-to-peer fashion and resale platform. She is an experienced founder with a proven track record in scaling business and delivering high-impact projects. She has worked with renowned fashion brands such as Vivienne Tam, anya, hein-march and Joseph, and sporting brands such as W-Series. Louisa has served as chief of staff in Dun Bridge Street and Rethink Hong Kong, as well as being on the founding team of the leading market and growth at Opus. So thank you for joining us today. Our main focus today here, I think we're going to talk more about Feng Fenxiang yes, but let's begin with your background. Can you tell us a bit about your professional journey and what brought you to Hong Kong?
Louisa Dearlove:Absolutely Well. Thank you so much for having me today. It's so wonderful to be here and, as you can probably tell in my bio, I've had a little bit of a sort of zigzag journey, but definitely it's kind of led me to now becoming a founder. So I, when I was at school and university, I always wanted to work in fashion. So I went to work for a number of fashion houses working kind of the the press side of things. I worked in New York for a summer interning for Vivian Tam and like working on her New York fashion show, which was an incredible experience.
Louisa Dearlove:And then when I left university, I was sort of not quite sure what I wanted to do, so tried like a number of different things, but went into the startup world and became the first employee at a sporting brand called W Series and that was an incredible experience. Being the first person in an organization is just amazing. You're helping build it from the ground up, you're taking all these incredible meetings whilst also plugging in computers and doing all the stuff. So it was amazing getting that startup experience. And then I decided to move more into the tech side and tech side more of a corporate role and what I realized, what I was doing at W Series was this kind of chief of staff role, which is very much. You are kind of working across all aspects of the business, all parts of the team, which I absolutely love. So I'd gone from doing that at a startup to then I went to work at Dun Bradstreet chief of staff there for the chief marketing officer, which was an incredible role. Again, working at a large corporate is so different to working at a startup. You're just there's so much more kind of you know all the different levels of approval. But I think it's so important to have that corporate world experience.
Louisa Dearlove:And for me, they offered me a role in Hong Kong after three years and that's what brought me to Hong Kong, which I was overjoyed about. I've always wanted to work in Asia, so when I got the opportunity I absolutely jumped at it, so moved to Hong Kong with Dun Bradstreet and then really found that I wanted to move back into something with a little bit more purpose and mission driven, and that's when I came across Rethink Hong Kong, which is what which is uh, hosts a large event every year focused on sustainability. So I've been working there as chief of staff for the past three years and then, yes, I've now kind of got. That journey has led me to start my own business, working um as the founder of Funchiang um. So, yeah, that's what brought me to Hong Kong and now running my own business. I thought Vivian Tam was what brought you to Hong Kong.
Louisa Dearlove:It's such a serendipitous moment because when I was in New York, I was like, oh yeah, this amazing Hong Kong designer. And then I moved to Hong Kong and I was like this amazing Hong Kong designer that I worked for when I was 19 years old, this is incredible. So, yeah, it feels quite special now and I've got some Vivienne Tam dresses that she gifted me, which was so special.
Hoiki Liu:Actually, one of my sample rooms in Hong Kong still makes for her. I love her. Yes, her stuff is really beautiful and the cutting, the patterns Stunning. But let's go back to Fanxiang. So I want to ask you a little bit more. I mean, now that we know your journey, but what was the motivation really? What was the problem that you were trying to solve? What did you see that made you click and think, oh, I should start this.
Louisa Dearlove:So during my time in Hong Kong, I really struggled with shopping. I found that there was sort of high end, designer or sort of you know more kind of high street brands, fast fashion. I felt like there wasn't really much in between that you know that contemporary fashion. And I kind of was having conversations with friends and one of my friends invited me to come and look into her wardrobe because I wanted a dress for a wedding. And I went into her cupboard and she was like, yeah, you honestly borrow anything Like. I'm so bored of my clothes. And I just looked to her cupboard and she was like, yeah, do you honestly borrow anything Like? I'm so bored of my clothes. And I just looked in her cupboard and was like, you have so many amazing items. I would love to borrow this and this. And I ended up borrowing a dress from her.
Louisa Dearlove:And it just got me thinking there must be so many of us that just have wardrobes full of clothes which things that sort of feel old to us but would be new to someone else. And that's kind of what got me thinking like why can't we all do that? Why can't we share some of the good that we all have in our wardrobes, and the rental market has really started to take off in Europe and the US, and when I was living in London, I'd become quite an avid user of rental platforms, and I'm now in that time in my life where I'm attending a lot of weddings and just having to, like, buy new outfits all the time. You know, buying something once, never wearing it again, it just feels so wasteful.
Louisa Dearlove:I've always been a big believer in quality over quantity and I just, you know, started to look much more into that sustainable fashion space and wanted to think you know how? These are sort of two problems I want to solve. I want to help that the issue that we're having in fashion with waste, but also I want to have an amazing new item that I can wear without that waste. So that's sort of how Fenxiang began. So, yes, my co-founder and I started to put a website together and started to test the market, and that's kind of where we are today.
Hoiki Liu:From my understanding. I want to just jump right into this and ask you guys don't have a warehouse holding everybody's rental clothes, which is what the rental market that I've known of in Hong Kong has been Given that really you only in Hong Kong, in my experience you only go to the rental shop for if you want to rent a wedding dress, if you want to wear evening gowns, you know, or maybe it'll be a mix of match. I remember myself I actually had bought my wedding gown but I rented my evening dresses. But years later now, I still bought my wedding gown but I rented my evening dresses. Amazing. But years later now, I still have my wedding gown just sitting there in my closet and never going to wear it again, like you know, which makes me think why did I think I needed to have something new at the time?
Hoiki Liu:But I mean, we'll get back to this. This is part of the stigma, but let me go back to what I was saying is, most of these places they hold all the inventory and hold everything that they're going to rent and the clothes belong to the business. So you come into my shop instead of buying something, you're looking around everything and renting something. But that's not what's happening with Fenxiang right.
Louisa Dearlove:No, so we work a little differently. So we are a peer-to-peer model and at the moment, we're the only peer-to-peer model in Hong Kong. So, as you said, we don't hold any stock and it's very much about this shared wardrobe with the community. So, yes, we are a peer-to-peer model, so we don't hold any stock. So it is all about kind of a sharing community, about having that shared wardrobe.
Louisa Dearlove:So lenders will go on and they will list their items on the platform and then renters will come and they will then read those items directly from the person. So the whole process is you sign up for free and you can list items. So you take photos of your items, you can upload them, you select the brand, you price the items as well we have a guide to that, to the pricing as well and then you list them and they list on the site as online, you know, in a similar format to online shopping. And then you the renter who wants to rent something amazing for a Friday night instead of rushing down to a high street store you go to Fenxiang, you browse the wardrobe, you select the item that you want.
Louisa Dearlove:I think something key always to mention is that you can message the lender and say you know, how does this fit Like? What is the sizing? Obviously there's so many different brands with different sizings. We have so many brands across from US brands, australian brands, uk brands so we want to make sure we're always being able to kind of have that communication so you can message the lender and say how does this fit?
Louisa Dearlove:And then you kind of check out, you select the dates, check out and then you can either have it delivered to you or you can go to one of our pickup points as well. The good thing about the pickup points is that you can go to pickup point and try it on immediately. If you love it, take it with you. If you don't, you can leave it at the pickup point and just let us know, and then you'll receive a full refund as well. Because I would say that's like one of the biggest pain points we get is, of course, if you don't have a showroom to go to. It's like is this going to fit me? We want to make sure that you're kind of having as much of an open communication with the lender about it so we can make sure that it is going to work out for you, but of course things always don't fit or it doesn't suit you, so we have an option.
Louisa Dearlove:I mean we have an option. I mean we have that even for when you go real, like real life shopping all the time, of course. Yeah, exactly, and sometimes, yeah, you rent something, you buy something and you're like this isn't actually my style, yeah.
Hoiki Liu:So yeah, we want to make sure that you are having that same user experience as online shopping oh, that's really, really great, because I would assume like a lot of people might be traveling for a wedding and you would want to order everything online. It's the same pain points as when you go shopping when things come, if they don't look as it is and you're running out of time what are you going to do?
Louisa Dearlove:Exactly, exactly, so no, we really wanted to make sure that that that whole user experience was the same.
Hoiki Liu:That is so great. So now, how long exactly has Fenxiang been running in Hong Kong?
Louisa Dearlove:So we have been running for about a year and a half now and we sort of we kind of like test. We did sort of like build an MVP, so minimal, viable product, and my I wanted to. I straight away was like, let's build an app, and my co-founder was who was a software engineer was like, okay, you're up here and you need to be down here. Let's test the market first and like speak to customers, which was absolutely the right thing to do, and I would advocate for anyone starting a business start with an MVP and then speak to your customers and iterate and see what people want to do. Like, for example, I thought everyone would want to send things via SF Express.
Louisa Dearlove:People and I think this is quite unique to Hong Kong people are happy to meet up and do the drop off points. People are happy to meet up and do the drop off points, and that was something that was very interesting, which, where I'm originally from in the UK, that would not happen, right. So I think that's a lot because of, like, the trusting community side of Hong Kong. So, yeah, we launched them, we've tested the market and I guess over the past year we've been working with different partners. We've done a number of brand collaborations with Top Swap, swap Society, women of Hong Kong to really kind of, you know, get the concept out there, get people to really understand what renting is and kind of align with brands, that sort of align with kind of our ethos as well. I quit my full-time job in March, oh wow.
Hoiki Liu:So that's when I feel, even though we've been running for a year and a half like that for me is now like okay, I'm now doing this like full-time, congratulations, thank you and you know you're working for great businesses, but at the same time, it really means like this venture and platform that you're building is, you know it's enough to take off.
Louisa Dearlove:Absolutely. And I think as well and I'm sure that you found this as well with running your own business like you have to, you have to give it, give it your all, and I think for me to fully get F&C to the next stage, I had to really kind of go for it all right now so it's been a year and a half, approximately how many members do you have currently.
Louisa Dearlove:So at the moment we have, I think, over 400 users on the platform and we've actually just reached about 700 items on the platform, and actually that's a big thing. That I'm focusing on at the moment is increasing that supply and just making sure there are enough different like styles and sizes and brands that people really want.
Hoiki Liu:Yeah, I guess what would like for me as a consumer from a consumer standpoint. I guess what would like for me as a consumer from a consumer standpoint. I guess what I would be more worried with if, let's say, if I was the Okay. So I think as someone who's borrowing we've already mentioned like, oh, you have a place where I can trial and fit, so that is already solved, kind of the issue. But as a lender, now if I'm the one lending my flows, what should I expect?
Louisa Dearlove:um great question. So I think it's very much like the items that you want to lend are those ones which you almost those are really special dresses or special items that are. You know you don't want to sell. Like at a moment you don't want to sell but you really want to make your wardrobe work harder. It's like, why are these things sitting in my wardrobe when someone else could be enjoying them?
Louisa Dearlove:And I think, actually thinking um someone I spoke to earlier this week. She has all these amazing outfits from her wedding, her hen party outfits, her engagement party outfits. She's like I'm never gonna wear these again, but they're so special to me so we don't want to, don't want to sell them, but actually renting them out um would be amazing and to see like other women enjoying those. So I think that's definitely kind of the point of view from the lender, what you want to think, and then, in terms of kind of how it works, the lender it's very much. You know, being able to shoot those clothes and I say shoot, that means like that sounds super professional, just honestly having like a white wall with like a clear, bright photo so that the person can see at the end of the day, I would assume we would want it to be as realistic as possible, because you don't?
Louisa Dearlove:it's just going to waste everyone's time if the borrower is completely and writing in the description saying like this is you know a UK 10, but it fits like a UK 12 as well, like I find it really, it works really well for this, or like there's like a tiny little like, like something on the back, like just being really honest about it. Like you know, we're not trying to hide these clothes have been worn, they have been enjoyed, but it's about more people enjoying them and it being new to people. So I think, as the lender, it's about you know, being realistic, as you said, really over communicating with the renter as well, so that they're having as much of a fantastic experience through this, having as much for, like, fantastic experience through this, um, and yeah, just the I would say that, yeah, the communication of it as well um, and being able to create that kind of trusting community um do you do people usually rent for a period of time, or is it like just one event?
Louisa Dearlove:uh. So it kind of depends and we and we kind of allow for both. So we have a minimum, minimal rental period of two days, um, but some people tend to rent for kind of up to five days. So some people, for example, if you have an event on the saturday night, people are rented from the thursday so they can try it and then they'll deliver it back on the monday, okay, and then we also have that some people will take, like you know, we know hong kongers love to travel and so a lot and a lot of people are traveling abroad for, like, different events, especially weddings and things. So absolutely you can take it away for a week, two weeks, and we actually have a pricing structure that after four days the price starts to reduce, so that actually you're right that makes sense because you're on a holiday.
Hoiki Liu:it doesn't mean you're actually gonna wear this item for that number of times this year, exactly, okay, that's really nice. Now, when people return their clothes, do they have to dry clean it before returning? How?
Louisa Dearlove:does that work? Great question. So this is very much something which I'm the customer and we have chosen to do it the way that we have because of my preference and my preference is my dress I want to take to my dry cleaner preference and my preference is my dress I want to take to my dry cleaner. So if I have lent something out that I, when I'm listing my items, I write the dry cleaning cost and the dry cleaning cost is built into the rental price. So the renter pays for the dry cleaning but the item is returned to me. You know, but you like worn, but then I will take it to my dry cleaner and that again is is the preference, because I want to take it to my dry cleaner and you know I want to. You know I want to trust everyone but I don't want someone, you know, god forbid like put it in the washing machine or something like that.
Hoiki Liu:I mean because, let's be very honest, not everybody knows how to read care labels absolutely exactly so.
Louisa Dearlove:I think it's. You know it's your own item, you want that cared for in this standard that you want, but also then for the renter it takes out. You know, one step for the renter. They don't then have to worry about the cleaning, they can just rent it and then return it immediately. And if I decide to rent a product that can be machine washed, then that cost would be much lower for Exactly. Yeah, I have a few items listed on there which can just be put in the wash.
Hoiki Liu:So items listed on there which can just be put in the wash. So I just, yeah, don't, don't list it. Oh, that is so great, um. So I know earlier we were saying how, um, the way that people are putting things out or how they feel, how should I say this, I guess? Okay, let's simplify my question.
Hoiki Liu:Is there any stigma right now for, especially in Asia, let's say, chinese people? You know we also have Chinese New Year. You need to get something new, like I remember actually when I had my brand out just for three months, as you know, kind of a trial. But, as I was saying, anthra collection is such a slow collection that is not going to have seasonal updates not always and I was in a shop in Denmark actually for three months, so it did great for Christmas, like when I didn't really do any push on marketing it because it's just a trial. It took off on its own. But came Chinese New Year, the same customer went back to the same shop asking if my brand has something new for them Interesting, and I did it, yeah, yeah. So I mean, I do realize how the difficulty here occasionally is people really want something new, and it's not just a new style, it's. They literally want a new piece, for whatever reason it is.
Louisa Dearlove:It's tough, it's really hard. You know, for all of those reasons that you just said, and I definitely was naive coming in I thought, right, I'm going to launch this like rental and resale site and it's been a really successful business model, like elsewhere in the world, and people did not really they did not know what it was. You know, I've definitely had to focus a lot on the education side of things and, you're right, there is a stigma and especially in Asia, it's much more kind of like wanting you, and so that has definitely been a challenge for sure. I think, yeah, there's I mean, there's no good answer for it, because it's definitely a challenge that I I'm like facing day to day.
Louisa Dearlove:And I think what I want to kind of lean into, the messaging I want to lean into, is that idea that someone everyone does want something new all the time. Just because something isn't like fresh, new from the package, it doesn't mean it can't be new to them. And going into that idea of like, actually, yes, I do want to wear a different outfit every week. Ok, that's great, you don't have to buy a new outfit every week, you can just rent a new outfit every week and you can rent, like these amazing brands that normally would cost you know thousands of dollars for a fraction of the price. So leaning into that messaging and making, trying to get people to understand like actually by renting you can have such a variety of choice on like brands and styles and, um, yeah, trying different trends as well.
Louisa Dearlove:But it's an issue and it's it's changing consumer habits, which is so difficult, and the way that we all are, the world is set up. Fast fashion is easy. Fast fashion is so easy and you know everything. You know all these like new pieces are available to us, like people doing kind of all the different seasonal trends and things like that, and so it's a real education piece. I'm trying to get people to understand and change those consumer habits, which is so difficult.
Hoiki Liu:It is, I think, and I mean I understand we're both going into schools to do these types of education. Now that we're both going into schools to do these types of education, now, I was just at an international school last week where I was speaking to a group of kids about sustainable fashion and there was one of the students who was looking. They were looking at my website. They looked at my website at the price of the pieces and she said you know, it's not that I don't like the things here, but they seem kind of expensive, given these kids are, you know, 15 to 17, something like that. And I understand that. But I asked her just on her consumer habits when's the last time you went shopping? How did you shop? Where did you shop from? How many things did you get? You know things like that. So she said the last time she bought something was online.
Hoiki Liu:Something like a month ago she bought three items from shin. Um, one of the items she has not worn. She got it. She said it's not really what she was expecting, what she wanted, so she just left it aside. Like you know, it's just sitting there somewhere in a pile somewhere in her house.
Hoiki Liu:Um, and then the two other items. She says she's worn it around maybe two to three times each, but she doesn't want to wear it anymore now because it feels like it's not trendy anymore. And so what I explained to her at that moment is how much did you play for those three items as shin, and if you actually defied it out by not ever wearing it or wearing it two to three times? It's, it's not that cheap. Yeah, first is something that you can love for many years, that you might wear. Let me say, just say, if you were something that you're willing to wear once a week, maybe a pair of simple pants that you can mix and match with different things, in a year you would have already wore it 52 times exactly, exactly, and this is this is you know why.
Louisa Dearlove:Like this is both what we're, obviously, you know, talking to people about what is so important, and it's all about that quality over quantity, which is so difficult when you've got that cheap price tag in front of you and you're like great, I just want to have that now. But I so, if I think of my wardrobe and what has been in it for, let's say, say like five plus years, is when I've spent on those high quality pieces and it's when I've invested in those pieces. So it's about kind of that education of like, actually you need, you should invest in those like high quality everyday kind of work pieces that are going to last you and then rent for like the fun, like those fun, like events and, like you know, even just like going out on a Friday night and things like that. Like I think that's the biggest consumer habit I'm trying to change. It's that weekly okay, I'm going out with some friends tonight, I'm going for dinner or this, like I want to wear something nice and running down to Zara and just buying something immediately which I'm never going to wear again, okay, it's fine.
Louisa Dearlove:Just like, hop onto fun chiang and just select something and it's. You know it's a community, so everyone is in hong kong, everyone is based like pretty close by like just rent something instead which is like out there and fun and a new brand. But it's so tricky to you know, do that education piece around, getting people to understand that she, like spending more is, is actually you long-term spending less? Um, but it's, I know it's fantastic and that's why I love speaking to you and like the anthro collection is such an amazing it's like amazing brand of what you guys are doing, messaging one of the things I was telling the kids besides like paying less now, it's just you're just not paying for the consequence later on.
Hoiki Liu:And it's not just you are not paying for the consequence later on is we're all paying for that consequence later on. And I had to explain to them. Actually, the day that I had the talk with them was the hottest day in record of in june for hong kong ever. It got up to 38 degrees, oh my gosh. So I was explaining to them on that day like you guys probably won't realize this because you're still, you know, in your first 20 years of life there's still a lot of things to experience and just to absorb. But you wouldn't know what was what it was before that and when I was young like june was not in the 30s, you know june was like maybe 28 degrees.
Hoiki Liu:Now we're talking about the hottest day. I mean it was like the top of the mountain, on the peak. It was 38 degrees, but it's still crazy. Like global warming, there are days where it's not just 1.5 degrees higher, it's much crazier than that. So I was explaining to them. You know we are already living in consequences of what the past generations have done. They may not realize this is the consequence, but on a day like june they shouldn't have to be in an air-conditioned room?
Louisa Dearlove:no, absolutely, and it's just, it's the waste as well, like I think you know, as you know, like the fashion industry is the third largest polluter, like in this, is it second now? Yeah, I mean the second now, and it's just crazy and it's it's from yeah you know the water usage to the waste. And I see, and it's those, um, I mean those sheen like tiktok hauls and like things like that, and I see and I'm like, oh, that is just so many clothes and like, honestly, the thing is, it's tricky because I remember, if I'm being really honest, when I was 16, I was addicted to zara. Yeah, I was so addicted to zara and I was so into this desire and I remember it was almost like a thing of pride, like going in and like buying as many things as possible.
Hoiki Liu:I don't have any of those items anymore and those are all just somewhere in like a huge kind of like waste facility and that's what's wild and it's trying to, yeah, change that, that conversation, and because, at the end of the day, if you just want to look fresh, really renting something I'm sure most people who's putting their things out for rent is going to be a higher quality piece, because no one's going to rent your garments from Shin or H&M.
Louisa Dearlove:Like no one needs that. No, and we don't accept kind of fast fashion brands. We maintain that we have, like, high quality items.
Hoiki Liu:There's always a value in it if it's high quality items.
Louisa Dearlove:So if you really do want something new for that, you know that night out renting something that would elevate you instead of buying something that is just no, you know exactly, and actually one of my kind of like top tips of friendship now is there's two or three women on the platform that I know are the same size as me and I really like their style, so I just keep going back to their things and I'm renting those. Something that I should mention as well that we've just recently launched is we've launched a resale tab on there as well, because we found that a lot of people were saying we've got lots of items we want to rent, but actually we've got a lot of like high quality pieces, like contemporary fashion pieces that we would love as well to sell.
Hoiki Liu:So we've started selling some items as well, and I'm sure there might be that person who wore this dress one night and they loved it so much they kind of want to keep it from themselves exactly.
Louisa Dearlove:Yeah, we've had a few people that they rented and said like oh, I actually love it, can I buy it? And. And the lender's like fantastic, yes, please.
Hoiki Liu:And I love how you said um, there's a few women that you know is now your size. It's almost like I don't know, without having this being part of the, the reason for why this platform was built.
Louisa Dearlove:But you're kind of building a community, absolutely, and I think that is so much like what it is about. It's building this community. The idea came from like sharing from your friend's wardrobe. It's like the idea that you see something your friend's wearing like I love that so much. I want that and that's what I really want the kind of the ethos to be is sharing like from your friend's wardrobe and building that community. And building that community of, uh, you know that circular fashion economy, but also that we don't need to compromise, like we can still wear incredible clothes and we can still have amazing style, but just change it and old-fashioned habits because, if you know, you start to get to know the lender or the renter um you also will have that much more faith in what you're getting.
Louisa Dearlove:Absolutely, it's building. It's building that trust and building that trust in community.
Hoiki Liu:Yeah, that's beautiful um, I actually want to ask first, is there any success stories or something that's really you know that you thought, oh, this happened between our members, or once we got this dress and whatever happened to it? Is there something that's really like I?
Louisa Dearlove:need to tell you to start. Um, a friend of mine had a baby at the end of last year and she, you know, was going through a stage where she's like nothing fits me. I hate kind of all the clothes, and she and we had a lot of friends who have like big parties coming up and stuff, just really want to come to them but I'm just not feeling myself. And she rented like all her everything that she wore to those events over the six months from fushiyang and she was like this is great, because it's items that are making me feel good. They're not in my usual size, they're not something that I would normally kind of buy, and it was just so wonderful because she was coming to these events, just like feeling like herself, like being able to, being able to try like different items that she could just rent now and then, yeah, later on she doesn't. She like now then they're're not her size anymore, so she's going to lose and that's all she's done.
Hoiki Liu:I'm sure she will feel like I. I actually I had the same feeling after giving birth. I feel I feel guilty for buying new things because I know my body shape is going to change again, but at the same time I can't keep worrying what I was wearing and while I was pregnant. Yeah, so I literally left out of leggings and just sports for, I think, a year until I got back to my shape. But I was quite unhappy for the whole year. I mean, I was happy with my life, my family, but I was quite unhappy with how I actually looked. So I remember I didn't want to take pictures. I didn't really want to take pictures. I would take pictures of my kids, my husband and my kids, but I'd be like I don't really want to be in the picture for that exact reason. I don't feel myself yet and none of my clothes fit me.
Louisa Dearlove:Exactly so. It was like an opportunity for her to try different styles. I wish I was Fenxiang when I was going through that time. Yeah, that was good, good, and actually someone the other day they rented, so we've got a couple of amazing suits on there. So I would say the majority of the items we have are very much like for event dressing, like weddings, big parties and things like that. But we've got a couple of like amazing kind of like power suits on there which a few people have rented, and someone rented one last week because she was interviewing at a fashion house and it was amazing. She ended up getting getting the job. She was interviewing at a fashion house and it was amazing. She ended up getting the job. She was like I felt just so powerful going in in this great suit and yeah, it really worked for me and she was like but I didn't need that suit Like over and over again, I just needed it for that moment. So that was really cool.
Hoiki Liu:I think it would be especially great for A few items. Obviously, offense and occasional wear that is not something that you'll want to wear repeatedly, and even sometimes very brightly colored or fashion and trendy things. I mean, it might be you for this moment, but maybe not all the time. I also think we do need to speak to more kids who are searching for themselves the style, like you know, to see what looks good on them, for them to explore fashion in a way where there is it's less weightful.
Louisa Dearlove:Absolutely, yeah, definitely. And it's that. And that's one of obviously the biggest problems of fast fashion is those trends and like people wanting to try all those trends, and so they do, they like go to sheen and they like buy all of those, but actually renting gives you that option of like actually I can try all these trends, I can see kind of what works and what doesn't work, right, and without having this of the wasteful wastefulness of buying it and I was explaining to the students.
Hoiki Liu:it's bringing us back to the girl who said she rather buys me from shin just because she can try, but then after either not wearing it or two, three, she realized it's not really for her kind of thing. I mean, in that same breath of hearing all of those stories, I also told them, you know. Oh, actually, because when I was in there that day, I think Chanel just either came out with the news that morning or the night before about Neve Old, how they were starting a second, not a second. Their second starting Neve Old is basically they're using the old inventory to recreate and redesign new things. One of the reasons stating that is because all these luxurious materials that we know of nowadays your wools, your silks, your leathers the supply is depreciating and so it's getting more and more expensive to buy these luxe items because the raw materials cost so much more. And I was explaining to students. You know Chanel's already making this move.
Hoiki Liu:It tells you a few things. The first thing I will say is we all actually need to take care of our planet right now, and it's already a little bit too late, but we cannot delay any longer, mainly because you know we're talking about how the natural resources are depreciating. This is because of global warming, this is because of all the weights we've created. That's drowning. You know our earth, it's in pollution.
Hoiki Liu:So you know, at their tender age of 15, right now, this is a luxury, I said, possibly by the time you're 30, this will be priceless. Like you won't even be able to get it. There might be no more fields for sheep to graze on. Cotton's not growing properly because of global warming. You know. You were talking about organic cotton now, but maybe cotton just. Even if you're adding all the chemicals, it won't even grow properly anymore. Silkworms no more silk, because silkworms can't live in this extreme heat, you know. So all of it is going to add up and then, by the time when you have no more choice but polyester, it's really going to be way too late.
Louisa Dearlove:Yeah, exactly, it's so interesting. I saw that, yeah, that move that Chanel are doing and it's fantastic, and I think that's what is going to really make a difference is those kind of those high fashion houses. It's really starting to make those changes, because there's already behind the scenes like lots of changes being made, like in the design process and the manufacturing, as you know. But I think definitely, yeah, it's some big moves from Chanel and I think we're hopefully going to see that that's going to turn into much more of a trend.
Louisa Dearlove:And I've seen other kind of smaller brands. There's, um, there's an amazing brand in the UK called Rixo and they, uh, they noticed that so many of their items were being rented on various rental sites, so they just launched their own, their own rental side of the business. I think they've actually recently partnered with one of those rental sites because they identified that so many, uh people were like wearing their dresses for weddings, so they just leaned into like okay, actually we're gonna be part of this as well and like be part of that rental journey. So, yeah, it's great to see kind of brands also kind of taking.
Hoiki Liu:yeah and I think they all, we all kind of need to, because you know kids were asking me about like outlets even and I think a lot of people don't realize this actually and most of your outlets they sell made to go Like. They sell outlet lines that they order from the factory. This is not stuff that's from past and very left out Most of the time, past inventory. This is I was telling that as just imagine or like. We've all seen this because there's so many malls and shopping centers and shops in general in Hong Kong. We've all seen.
Hoiki Liu:You know your H&M or your Uniqlo go on sale. You know full shop of things on sale and then they go on further discount and then they go to final sale. By the time it's final sale three weeks later it's still a shop full of inventory and you know there is more in the warehouse. Still it's crazy inventory and you know there is more in the warehouse still crazy. So the day where it's final inventory and the next day they flip over and sell a brand new season, what do you think happened to everything that was still in the shop when they closed that night?
Hoiki Liu:Yeah, you know it's so scary. It's so crazy because we all know everyone is over producing right um and going back to the chanel thing, and now we know they're starting this new venture, but at the same time, what does that tell us about what they were previously doing? Yes, yeah, absolutely, and I think that is for every brand and everybody, from fast fashion to your high luxury, because protecting your brand name and IP has always been something that was so important. But I think it's time to look at the importance of that and the importance of where our world is going right. Absolutely. So we need there's so many problems and we definitely need more solutions like Fenxiang.
Louisa Dearlove:Absolutely, and I think that's just that's. What's so important is, you know, we can't just say like stop buying or like stop having, you know, stop having access to amazing fashion. Like that's that's our biggest thing is like we are not saying that we need to compromise on that. It's just we have to change the habits, we have to shift those habits to become more sustainable, and there are so many amazing solutions and different options. It's just changing that mindset and that's that's what the biggest challenge is, but also it's it's what's got to happen, definitely. So it's great to see like big businesses kind of doing that, because I think they can really lead the way on it. Yes, but definitely you know as like the everyday person, that they can.
Hoiki Liu:They can make those more sustainable choices as well one more thing I like to add is a lot of people buying new it's because they think it's it's a hygiene issue. Half of it, yes, yes, and that is the biggest like lie. Yeah, that is not true. Like buying new clothes is it's not clean. New things usually aren't clean. They've gone through millions of people's of hands. So when I explain the supply chain from the raw materials to you know we making yarns, from the yarns, weaving or knitting the fabrics, and then to the cutting um sewing things together, ironing things like fusing on all of these parts, people adding on buttons, pack, inspecting your, your clothes, packing in a bag everything I just said is done by a different person.
Louisa Dearlove:This is so great to hear from your point of view, the manufacturing side because obviously which isn't a surprise and which is a completely fair question we get a lot of questions about hygiene and items appearing new. But that is so true it's disgusting. That's what it is. Yeah, exactly, even on a shop floor, people are going through items all the time and stuff like that.
Hoiki Liu:And I think, because they took it from the stock room, it's still in a polyester bag, but you need to think about what happened before. It was packaged in a polyester bag Exactly. Even if it's something that's been laundered at one point After the laundering point, there's still many, many steps it goes through before it gets into a package Exactly exactly Most of the time, our items.
Louisa Dearlove:they're dry, cleaned and then just put back in someone's cupboard and then they're picked up again to deliver to the renters. That is actually much cleaner. That's probably much cleaner and way less steps. So actually, yeah, that's something I need to talk about a lot more. As you can imagine, it's a big question. We get, which is so fair enough.
Hoiki Liu:We have T's and C's in place, that making sure that all of our items are up to the high standard that we expect that we would want all of our items to be delivered. As a garment manufacturer, I always tell my friends, whenever I buy something new, I always wash it first.
Louisa Dearlove:Yes, it's so interesting. Everyone I meet who's like in fashion in the real, like kind of garment, like manufacturing side, always say that, yeah.
Hoiki Liu:So I love to. I love to share that with you so you can, hopefully. You know, I feel like a big segment. It's used, it's old, it's clean. It's one of the main things. But with everything that we talked about today, I'm super excited about the partnership we're going to be building, going forward. So excited, yeah, so I'm going to be putting the entire Anthra collection onto Fenxiang. As you know, anthra collection being such a slow collection, extremely slow fashion, doesn't always have something new every season. We don't have a retail space that we can constantly be in, because you know, when you go into a shop, people are looking for something new. So I'm super happy to have a platform like yours where I can actually share my garments with the potential customer who's unsure of the quality, maybe, or unsure of the sizing and fit. Now they can actually get it somewhere for um, for rental, and see if they like it first before they decide if they want to purchase and if they do not, or if they only want to wear it for their occasion.
Louisa Dearlove:That's fine too. Absolutely, we are so excited to be partnering with you and, honestly, just so honored, because everything that your brand is about is, like, so true to Fenxiang and the whole kind of like slow fashion side, as, as well as, honestly, anthro Collection have so many fantastic items, so all of our users are in for a treat, so they're going to have so many incredible options. So really excited for it. Thank you so much. Yes, thank you.
Hoiki Liu:So I think we might have covered everything we needed to today. Great, yes, and I'm sure I'm going to have you back again, because, as the platform evolves, we're gonna talk about how it's changed absolutely and it's just been.
Louisa Dearlove:yeah, it's been such a joy to chat to you and, like speak with someone who's so passionate on this, on this subject as well, and I just think that you know we we share that same mission of we really want to see those, um, those fashion habits like those becoming more, but we don't need to compromise on having incredible clothes and incredible style as well. We can still have that. So it's just been wonderful to chat to you and learn more about your business as well.
Hoiki Liu:Thank you so much for your time today. Thank you you.
