The Pitch by Garage: Love, Bonito eyes more international markets to reach Asian women globally (Ep 5)

Love, Bonito has grown from a local blogshop to a multi-market brand with an omnichannel presence. With clothing catered to Asian women, Love, Bonito has become a household name in Singapore and the region. Dione Song, the company’s chief executive, talks about how the company adapts to the evolving retail landscape and its plans to expand into more markets.

Here are 2 takeaways from the conversation:

Insights-driven

For Love, Bonito, enhancing the retail experience is a customer-centric process driven by data and innovation. The company also keeps a finger on the pulse of customer needs through surveys and focus groups.

Staff on the ground also have a role to play when it comes to observing customers and identifying their needs. Active engagement between the retail staff and the leadership team ensures that feedback is taken into consideration and measures are implemented to improve the customer experience.

Through polling its customers, Love, Bonito found that there was a growing interest in the brand outside South-east Asia because few brands cater to Asian women in those markets. This has given the company the confidence to set its sights on international markets such as the United States.

Balancing profit and planet

Fast-fashion brands have been heavily scrutinised over their roles in driving consumerism and hurting the environment. Song said that overproduction is one of the leading causes of pollution in the fashion industry. Love, Bonito therefore keeps its inventory lean and prioritises designing clothing that allow customers to get maximum mileage out of them.

The company has also started diversifying its supplier base out of China in order to get greater control over its end-to-end operations. This will eventually enable the company to be more actively involved upstream, and to ensure that sustainable practices are implemented across the supply chain.

Highlights of the conversations

01:16 Dione’s journey with Love, Bonito

05:52 Always customer-centric, not trend spotting

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More

09:15 Tech enabling and enhancing fashion retail

12:32 Taking an Asian-centric brand global

17:56 Balancing increasing top line and sustainability

Produced by: Vanessa Ho (podcast@sph.com.sg), Howie Lim and Ang Guangzheng

Edited by: Howie Lim

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