Thanks to the quarantine life and vast hordes of consumers spending more time indoors, a renewed interest in the home and living space has been ignited. And fashion brands are sitting up and taking notice – or otherwise ramping up their focus if they’ve already dipped their toes into the market.
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In fact, even before the pandemic hit, both luxury and mass-market labels like Gucci, Hermes, Dior, H&M and Zara had either launched home decor collections or opened interiors-centric concept stores.
Ong Shunmugam has expanded its Survanabumi homeware range with a line of beautifully crafted rattan furniture.
Fashion retailers are pivoting on this moment too. In November last year, Net-a-Porter expanded its lifestyle range to include decorative objects and throws from a variety of brands, as well as producing exclusive lifestyle lines with brands like fine jewellery label Jia Jia and fashion house Erdem.
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“We are definitely seeing more of our brands expand into homeware or increasing their homeware offerings,” notes Libby Page, senior fashion market editor at Net-a-Porter, to FEMALE.
“Fashion brands recognise that customers who love beautiful fashion items also want beautiful items for their homes.”
Libby Page, senior fashion market editor at Net-a-Porter
“Customers are wanting their homes to be aesthetically-pleasing spaces now that they spend so much time in them. And fashion brands recognise that customers who love beautiful fashion items also want beautiful items for their homes.”
New York fine jewellery label Jia Jia launched an exclusive lifestyle line of celestite geodes and crystal quartzes with Net-A-Porter last December.
Closer to home, homegrown store The Editor’s Market launched a Life section with the expansion of its 313@somerset flagship store in August last year. New products include fragrances, kitchenware, textiles and even stationery.
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Vivian Low, co-founder of The Editor’s Market, adds that the retailer did see an increase in demand for homeware and lifestyle products during last year’s circuit breaker.
One of the homeware brands stocked at The Editor’s Market is Scandi label Ferm Living.
“It was truly a period in which we saw our homes as sanctuaries more than ever before, and desired them to be well-furnished,” she says. “We’ve always thought that the appreciation of aesthetics can be translated across different verticals, not just fashion.”
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With more brands recognising the opportunity to put their style stamp onto lifestyle objects, get ready for more updates on the, erm, home front. Meanwhile, here are eight brands that have expanded into the territory in recent times.