MELINDA LOOI ( ml) & CASSEY GAN ( cg)

EA Tell us a little more about how you first started Innai and Innai Red, how you found your two in-house designers and how has the experience been working with them. EA That’s very amazing the fact that you actually manage to sustain from Innai to Innai

CG It’s my first time meeting you Melinda.

ML I know. I was just thinking hey I know this Cassey Gan. How old are you?

CG I’m 35.

ML I’m ten years older than you.

CG When did you start out in fashion?

ML Very young, in my mum’s factory. I had my own business in 2000.

CG I’ve always wanted to know how important is it to have a business partner?

ML When I first started out, I was doing everything myself. I was running to the EPF office every month, I was doing payroll, I would say I wasn’t really sleeping at all. But I was younger at that time and I didn’t mind. After four years of running my own business, I nearly gave up but at that time I consider myself really lucky that I bumped into my business partner who is now my husband. He wanted to join me in the business and make sure that I enjoy my work. At the same time, he can lighten my workload and he came from a finance background so I realised that is important. He is doing an amazing job and I can now focus more on my creative work. I try not to touch the business side of things. We fight about work but I think it’s a good reason to fight as we always come to a conclusion and the team decides on what to do together.

CG So when did you start to hire?

ML When I came back from Canada, I worked for my parents for another year. I realised I wanted more challenges so I left my mum’s business and set up my own business. I didn’t have any money because my parents were not happy I left the family business. My grandma loaned me RM3000 and I bought my first sewing machine which cost me RM1500 then I hired my cutter and drafter who is still with me and a seamstress. I was sharing a workshop and cutting table with another designer at that time. Though I only had two staff at that time, I managed to make decent sales at Isetan where I had set up a counter so I increased my staff headcount every year. Then I moved to a bigger workshop which I still shared but after four years I set up my own workshop and I had about five to six staff. I opened my first standalone boutique in Bangsar back in 2002 and that’s also when I started to do a lot more high end bespoke pieces. I started a male casual line and that was also when I met my husband. Everything expanded in those few years.

CG How many people in the company do you have right now?

ML About 40 of us. We have branched out from fashion, we have just started doing interior design

and we have just finished a project that will be launching in September. We also do uniforms (Designer Uniforms by Melinda Looi).

CG Do you still do a lot of the designing yourself?

ML Now that I have an assistant designer I still try to do most of the design work myself. For couture it’s only me.

CG How do you continue to innovate throughout the years?

ML I used to dream a lot and I see shapes and how things are made in my dreams. When I wake up I can immediately design. After being a mum of four, my dreams are now about other things. Travelling and watching movies inspire me. I love to work with new materials and I like to think out of the box which is why I am not a good ready-to-wear designer. It’s not difficult but it’s not me. I love details, I love working with my hands and finding new stories to tell. I’ve been doing a lot of readyto-wear in recent years but I really want to focus on couture even though it is not a money-making segment but it is my way of expressing my creativity.

CG As a mum, how do you balance between fashion and family?

ML I’ve been lucky that I run my own business so I can bring my kids to work. I grew up in my mum’s factory and as a child I’d been backstage as well. I think it’s important to allow my children to see what I do, where I am and what kind of people I’m surrounded with.

CG Over the years, what has been the toughest challenge?

ML I think most designers face the same issue. Financially it’s tough because fashion is a very expensive business. People think you make a lot of money after a fashion show. But we’ve invested a huge sum of money into the show which we cannot mark it into our price tag. We invest to promote our brand and we have to keep stock of fabrics and pay our staff. For me, I came from a very humble background where I only had RM3000 which I borrowed from my grandma.

CG How did you make it so big today then?

ML I sold all my graduation pieces and the pieces I designed in school as well. When I came back from Canada, Isetan engaged a group of Malaysian designers to open a counter in their gallery. The top three designers who had the highest sales were me, my sister Beatrice Looi and Khoon Hooi. I was lucky I had a counter to sell my collection and there were not many local designers at that time. We worked so much harder those days and I was doing so many shows that we used to call ourselves showgirls.

II Innai was established in 2004 by my mum. She has a penchant for batik and started the business making traditional prints. I knew at some point I would take over the business. I’ve always been working since I left school and I do love fashion but I’ve always been doing more sales and marketing. I was helping my mum out until I completed my degree and in 2008 I took over Innai full-time. She gave me a sum of capital to grow the business and it took five years for me to pay her back but we’ve always managed to sustain and maintain what we already have.

II They are. That was how Innai Red came about. Before Innai Red, I helmed another namesake brand with another designer but it did not work out after two years because there was no synergy. We had to disband the brand and the other team members such as the production wanted to stay on if we had a plan b. I said the only plan b is if I start off fresh with a new brand. I’m no designer and I need to have my own in-house team and that’s when I thought of starting Innai Red, like a diffusion line of Innai. I tried to engage Juliani Jamal first because she was already an assistant designer but she was new and only had a year of experience in

“PEOPLE THINK YOU MAKE A LOT OF MONEY A FTER A FA SH ION SHOW. BUT WE’VE INVESTED A HUGE SUM OF MONEY INTO THE SHOW WHICH WE CA NNOT MA RK IT I NTO OU R PRICE TAG” Melinda Looi