The new Kapok store at National Design Center. Credit: Kapok
Kapok has cool stuff. Just ask another self-respecting Hong Kong hipster where they shop and more often than not they will point you to the nearest multi-label Kapok store.
Arnault Castel, a Frenchman who lives in Hong Kong, first opened a multi-label store at St Francis Yard to stock a curation of emerging and established fashion and lifestyle designers from all over the world in 2006. The formula worked so well that today Kapok has six locations all over Hong Kong.
Two of them – at St Francis Yard and on Sun Street – are within a few hundred metres of each other in the hip Wan Chai area. Amazingly, the two stores have not cannibalised each other despite being placed in such close vicinity. In fact, when I’m in Hong Kong, I find myself making the short trek from one store to another to make sure I have covered all ground – from Parisian-vibed Kitsune T-shirts and leather clutches that resemble paper bags by American accessory designer Marie Turnor to floral snapbacks from British label YMC; the spoils from my last Hong Kong holiday.
In the past, the multi-label store’s presence in Singapore was limited to counters in the menswear departments of Robinsons and Tangs, so when news hit that Kapok was opening its first real store here at the National Design Center, I may have let out a whoop of excitement.
So here are my three reasons why Kapok is the coolest new store in Singapore.
Easy access to cool labels
No longer do I have to fork out for a plane ticket to Hong Kong to shop Castel’s great international selection. Striped Sunspel T-shirts from the UK; pretty delicate jewellery from Parisian jewellery line Trois Petits Points; and even super hip London Undercover umbrellas, are all easily accessible now!
Cool collaborations
Kapok x Simple People
The first in a series of collaborations with Hong Kong designers sees icons from film, music, and art translated into simple geometric shapes. Designer Rex Koo of Simple People has transformed the characters from In the Mood for Love and The Godfather, Bruce Lee, David Bowie and more into simple graphics on a 32x48 grid on tote bags and Singapore brand Sifr T-shirts.
Kapok x Carrera
The eyewear brand’s exclusive collaboration with the multi label store has launched two limited edition colourways – grey camouflage and purplish-blue. What makes this collab especially cool is the Carrera case that secures with an elastic loop done up in the Kapok colours.
Kapok is at the National Design Center, 111 Middle Road. For more information, go to www.ka-pok.com. Follow the store on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KapokSG.