Are you the only founder for KBLU and why a swimwear label and what does the name mean? 

Yes, I am the sole founder of KBLU. I used to sail in my early years and I studied in buisness school in the South of France. From early days, I have always adored beautiful swimmers and love buying matching outfits for going to beach. When I came back to Singapore, I always feel the lack of options and varieties for my body type here in Singapore.

The meaning behind K.BLU?
K represents first initial of my child, and blu comes from the show “le grande bleu” by luc besson. It was a very famous show on free diving in the early 90s set in Corsica.

Most of your friends who knew you from before always mentioned you are sportive. What other sports you do? 

I used to cycle a fair bit, in 2007 I joined a cycling tour in Bhutan by myself. I had a bad fall in my first 2 days arriving there, and was stitched up in a local military hospital. Next day, I was up kayaking, ignoring the fact that I needed to be in bed. I figured I have paid so much money to be there, I needed to finish what I aimed to do, which I did eventually. 

Its been almost 5 years since you started KBLU. What do you think you have learnt? 

Entrepreneurship is not easy! Every little step requires a team to move it along. Being the only founder means I can steer the ship fast but also means sometimes I can over-indulge in the business. I have learnt to set objectives and tighter budget controls. I rely heavily on people around me at work to tweak my business model. I have come to a safe place in year 5, but also a place where I need to see if going bigger make sense to me. 

Why not go big? 

Being big in scale has it’s downsides, which includes a higher production cost and possibly a lack of attention to quality control. We’re all about giving the best quality to our K.BLU customers, of course! However, in future when K.BLU has a chance to go big, we definitely will!

What new milestones have you achieved this year? 

We have been selected by Singapore Government as one of the 13 designers to exhibit for Singapore National Day recently. We hope to reach out wider domestically.
 
A second step in collaboration- We are back as main swimwear for Miss Universe Singapore for second year in a row. We have just finished a month long pop-up with Takashimaya sports department and next we will have our exclusive pre-view cruise launch at womenswear at Takashimaya in October. 

Inclusivity has always been one of K.BLU’s goals as a swim & resort brand. When we launched curve collection this year,we were so excited to be able to include more women into our K.BLU journey! Women loved it and we are receiving great response so far.

I can’t wait to tell you more about Hollywood collaboration next! “mumps" 

From 12 year banking career to self-taught fashion creative to running your own business, whats your tips to other fellow mid-life individuals who want to change their jobs. 

1. Think it proper if its passion or more money you are looking for. Former has no immediate reward and latter means a lot more handwork. You need to set a timeline and budget for it. 

2. Have a solid plan before quitting. Business model, contacts and money. 

3. Have family support. My husband and brother helps me physically and financially. Mom is there sometimes for operations and sewing advices. You need it emotionally as its a lonely path being an entrepreneur.


Whats the few pain points you have experienced so far?

1. Cost of product. As my manufacturing runs are small, costs are high. We skimp a lot, our marketing efforts the last 3 years are solely organic. Nothing paid. Down to the blog content creation, we do it all in-house.

2 Sizing. Its a continuous effort to get the sizing and styles right.

3. Being the first in the market, means I have to litmus test everything!!! I have made so many rookie mistakes, they are invaluable to me, no matter how painful they are.