This article first appeared in Digital Edge, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 13, 2021 - December 19, 2021

Homegrown fashion retailer OxWhite expanded rapidly before the Covid-19 pandemic as the brand gained recognition for its quality apparel, but the company started to face problems as global lockdowns and travel restrictions blocked access to factories and international suppliers.

When the movement restrictions were eased and the country’s economy was allowed to operate in the new normal with vaccinations being rapidly rolled out, the severely disrupted local fashion supply chain was one of the last to reopen. 

According to OxWhite founder C K Changr, the close-to-four months of disruption resulted in back orders that were in dire need of fulfilment.

“For a good part of 2020, we didn’t have any bestseller items to sell. The borders were closed and our raw materials were stuck at the port,” said Changr.

But via his connections in the Malaysian fashion industry, he got several local factories and manufacturers to make up for the shortfall in supply.

“We needed to diversify our resources by looking to local factories that could produce garments that are of the same quality,” he added.

The shift from foreign to local manufacturers converted OxWhite into a barangan buatan Malaysia (made-in-Malaysia) advocate.

These days, Changr makes sure the words “Made in Malaysia” are prominently displayed on each garment’s label.

He noted that many fashion brands do not reveal the manufacturing country on their garments, but doing so actually inculcates national pride. 

To promote OxWhite’s products better, the company implemented a system on its website to incentivise customers to peer review their purchases. The plan to help in purchasing decisions worked, with 145,000 product reviews currently recorded.

“Peer reviews are important for new brands, especially if we want to stand out in a very crowded marketplace next to international brands. It’s not just to instill trust in customers but also to show them what the brand is about.”

Over the last two years, OxWhite’s customer base has grown from 20,000 to 700,000 customers. Changr said 95% of its customers are Malaysian and that there has been a trend shift from formal to casual to home wear.

“Before this, for every 10 pieces of clothing sold, three pieces would be formal and seven, casual. Now, for every 100 pieces of clothing, two are formal and 98 are casual,” he said.

“There was tremendous demand for home and innerwear. Comfort was the theme as people were stuck at home but still valued good quality clothes.”

The symbiotic relationship among consumers, manufacturers and brands has also been a challenge, said Changr, as most manufacturers prefer advance orders. Typically, international brands make fashion forecasts a year in advance but for smaller outfits such as OxWhite, it is difficult to predict what the next big thing will be.

“Especially during the pandemic, clothing trends shifted from casual to home casual. Consumer choices and demands changed along the way and the continuous struggle is with manufacturers as we understand how they operate and they learn that we, retailers, are very niche,” he added.

“The brand, SHEIN, is making waves worldwide because its factory in China only works with online retailers, so this means it starts producing a small batch of clothes and once it has demand in the market, it scales up the supply.

“But this is never the case for traditional retailing. Garments are forecast in advance and that’s why brands either don’t have enough or have excess inventory. The SHEIN business model is very good for the next generation of factories that are trying to work with online brands.”

Despite these challenges, Changr said the brand has managed to capture consumers in the US, particularly among Asian customers there who have difficulty finding clothes that fit them.

To accommodate the high traffic of users and improve their experience, the company simplified its sizing chart and made the website’s landing page easier to read. Artificial intelligence (AI) was also deployed to provide a personalised experience to users.

“The AI segments users based on gender, previous purchasing behaviour and whether they are new or returning customers. AI helps with our customer relationship management.”

Changr added that he is considering experimenting with a bricks-and-mortar establishment for people who want to familiarise themselves with the brand by seeing and touching the garments. However, having some sort of online presence in the store is also important as consumer data is crucial.

“When you don’t have a database, you will not know how many people bought an item and you don’t know who these customers are. These data sets are important to compete in the market, especially with bigger brands, as they have more resources,” he said.

“I really hope OxWhite will someday be a household name in the Asean region.”

Meanwhile, Asia is still very new on the sustainability front, as the landscape is focused on producing good quality products, Changr explained. 

Still, the region’s industry players are conscious about the issue, with OxWhite developing fabrics using sustainable and recyclable materials, such as bamboo towels and recycled polyester sports shirts.

“Of course, we are not as advanced as the West, but we have ventured into understanding sustainable elements within the fashion world. Right now, these efforts do involve extra costs, but it shouldn’t affect the prices that consumers have to pay,” he said.

“At OxWhite, the main focus is to prolong the lifespan of products so people won’t wear it once and throw it away. Next, is the use of sustainable packaging for e-commerce orders. We use recyclable materials to pack and ship products.”

“We switched to sustainable packaging because some customers told me that they feel guilty purchasing from OxWhite because the packaging couldn’t be recycled. We listened to them and sourced this new recyclable packaging.”

On the inclusivity front, Changr said OxWhite has received many requests from the Muslim community for modest clothing. Women have asked for long-sleeved shirts, prompting the company to develop Muslim-friendly garments.

There has also been demand for sizes above the traditional XL available in OxWhite. Changr said the company has been working to gradually include larger sizes for some of its collections, such as innerwear. 

“The process to make bigger sizes is tedious because we do not have the cutting for the markers. We need to develop them from scratch and we need to determine the standard for plus sizes. Plus sizing is not standard because plus sizes in the US, UK and Australia are all different,” he said.

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