Where are all the male shoppers in town?

So i went menswear shopping with my GF last weekend and realised that although the streets are filled and crowded with people, the malls and shops are almost empty!

The F&Bs are doing pretty well still, but shops selling apparels seems to have more staff than shoppers! Ok, that might be too exaggerated, but I’m shocked by the handful of shoppers in the stores. Menswear section is even worse.

Not just the big popular brands, even fast fashion brands like H&M and Pull and Bears seem to have low traffic flow. I gave it some thoughts and came to some conclusion on my own:

1. They are waiting for GSS (which normally happens in June) to come before shopping.
2. These brands also have outlets in heartland malls hence there is no need to make their way to town to shop.
3. Guys are starting to shift their shopping behavior towards shopping online (i.e Amazon).

Im going to stay optimistic in guessing it’s either of the first two options, because if everyone is really shifting towards online will result in bad sales for retailers in Singapore and eventually the brands i like will eventually go out of business and shift their attention towards e-commerce.

Dont get me wrong, i do shop online quite often as it gives me access to more brands and designs and i am able to easily compare price and get the item shipped to my doorstep.

But i really love the ultimate experience of shopping physically and trying the clothes on in store. The music, feeling the fabric, testing the fit, interaction with the staff and hanging with my buddies.

Anyway these are just my thoughts from last week’s shopping.

Hope the shopping scene in Singapore will evnetually get better, especially menswear!

Till my next post. Take care!

Brands in Singapore I Like

This post will cover most of the menswear brands I buy in Singapore.

Singapore is a (really humid) tropical country. With the ‘summer season’ all year round, it is a very common sight to see guys in Singapore going everywhere in shorts and tees (I’m not kidding).

To see a guy in full suits would really be a rare sight. Without further-a-do, let me tell you guys where I (almost) always go to get by apparels and accessories:

For men’s apparels, here are a few of my top favourite local labels: Snort Label, Sifr and Sundays.

I think it’s because of high rental cost for shop space and the difficulties to hire retail staff, these local brands normally doesn’t have any retail store of their own. Other than Sifr having their own flagship store in Orchard Central, the rest of the local brands usually are seen in other multi-label stores and online. It’s quite a pity because these brands definitely have the potential to have a nice shopfront of their own. Anyway, Snort Label’s clothings can be found in most of the biggest multi-label stores like Naiise, Megafash and Actually (more about Actually later).

Sundays have very nice clothing that comes in multiple fabric. Which is nice because some of their designs I really like and certainly don’t mind having them in a variety of colors and fabric. Not cheap though, but at least I know I won’t run into some kid from tertiary school wearing the same clothes as me (sorry if I sounded selfish or arrogant, but I’m just being transparent with my thoughts). And it’s the same for Sifr, their prima cotton tees are one of the most comfortable ones around! Well, they used to be the pioneer in prima cotton tees, but I guess other brands started getting access to these fabrics and started producing their own.

Enough of local labels, for international brands, A&F caught my attention for awhile until their sale went crazy and everyone around me seems to own something from A&F (seriously), and since then I’ve distant myself from the brand. For now, Zara and Topman is still among my favourites. Pull and bear, Uniqlo and Muji as well.

My challenge with Muji and Uniqlo are the consistency of their products. Some fit nicely and last quite a bit while some just don’t fit well or have really weird cutting (not sure if it has got to do with the fact that they are Japanese brands). I also get my working socks from Uniqlo (3 for $14.90 is a catch), but I buy all my invisible socks from Muji (I chanced on their linen low socks during CNY shopping and it’s incredible!).