TAN BENG YAN | TYAN

WITH the proliferation of brands - be it mass, cult, up-and-coming or designer - in Singapore today, it is far too easy to forget that there was a time where choices were once really quite limited. But nobody remembers that better than Tyan's founder, Tan Beng Yan.

'I started Tyan in 1986 at the old Promenade,' recalls the affable Mrs Tan. 'What I wanted to do was to bring good quality fashion at very affordable prices to the consumers in Singapore.

'Then, you only had two options: you either bought something very mass or something very expensive because there were only big designer brands such as Dior, Lanvin, Gucci and Chanel around. There were simply no outlets for up and coming brands and I felt that the industry could do with a place that offered quality products at more realistic prices.'

And that is precisely what she has been doing for the past 24 years that Tyan has been in business - tirelessly sourcing around the world for the most interesting but value for money labels around.

'I think I've achieved my aim. I try very hard not to deviate from the philosophy that I set for Tyan although sometimes I've been tempted to trade upwards,' she says with a laugh.

'I think Paule Ka is one of the best finds that I made. When we first brought it in, it was just this really small label from France but I saw so much potential in it because it was so well made, the quality absolutely fantastic and their prices - so affordable for what they were.'

Today, the once obscure Paule Ka is one of Tyan's best-selling labels. It has done so well that Mrs Tan felt it warranted its own standalone boutique at ION Orchard. She opened Paule Ka together with a standalone Vivienne Tam boutique and another Tyan store that stocks names like Sonia by Sonia Rykiel, Vivienne Westwood's Anglomania and Red Label lines as well as Jean Paul Gaultier.

'Sometimes, market forces change the direction of your business, you just have to be very flexible and go with the flow. Other times, the labels in your multi-label boutiques grow and you turn them into standalones, and that's what happened with Paule Ka and Vivienne Tam,' she adds.

Many consumers have grown under the watchful eyes of Mrs Tan and over the years, she's watched them change.

'I think that the consumers in Singapore have grown more sophisticated. They're very confident dressers, they know what they want and they want new things all the time,' she observes. 'As a buyer/merchandiser, it is our job to go around the world, spot new labels and bring them back to them, especially given that people in Singapore are so busy.'

She adds that her boutique at ION has pushed her to be more on the pulse than ever before. 'With the generous space that we have here (5,000 sq ft), it gives us a little bit more opportunity to experiment with more brands and with new labels,' she explains. 'Also, because ION as a mall wanted to market itself as a mall for new-to-market brands. This means that consumers coming to our store here expect that from us.'

For this Spring/Summer 2010, Mrs Tan is introducing Jean Paul Gaultier's main line, Vivienne Westwood's Red Label and a Turkish label called BNG which she feels 'fits like a dream on bigger women'. In particular, she holds high hopes for one of her newest acquisitions, Cacherel, that recently appointed Cedric Charlier (ex-assistant to Alber Ebaz at Lanvin) as its creative director.

'I think that Cacherel has a lot of potential,' says Mrs Tan. 'The whole look and form has changed. It's still floral, but with a twist and I think its price points are very attractive.'

Moving on, Mrs Tan reveals that she's looking closer to home - the East - for inspiration. 'We already stock a Japanese label called Support Surface which offers really good products and looking East is definitely something that I could look into,' she concludes.

'I think if you look at it globally, there's already so much manufacturing being done in the East. In say, the next 10 years, with all the international quality and designs that the Asian designers are exposed to, I'm sure that some great talents will come out of the East.'

This article was first published in The Business Times.

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