Perhaps after a shower you've rubbed yourself dry with one of its fluffy towels. Or you've nodded off to sleep between its comfy sheets. Now there's another way to feel lifestyle brand Aussino against your skin - by wearing one of its fashion garments.
Yes, you read that right. Singapore-listed Aussino, better known for its soft home furnishings, actually has a thriving in-house fashion label called Sino London.
For a whole decade now, Sino London has been making a name for itself outside Singapore with its fashionable yet affordable smart wear. The concept was started in London in 1997 and launched in Shanghai the same year.
Last month, the home-grown company finally launched the brand on home turf with a store in Wisma Atria.
The 1,163 sq ft store is its first store outside China, where it has 130 outlets in cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin.
Plans are underway to launch the brand in Sydney next March and in Vietnam and Saudi Arabia within the next year.
Aussino general manager Schnabel Tan-Rudianto says: 'We had always planned on bringing the brand to Singapore but the timing was never right. Now that the brand's undergone some changes, we felt that it was time to do so.'
While the brand's target customers used to be women in their 30s, it recently switched to catering to a younger and wider consumer group.
Tan-Rudianto explains: 'The designers still follow current trends but we're positioning ourselves now to reach out to women in their early 20s all the way to those in the early 40s.'
The current team of eight designers includes three Singapore-based talents - Sabrina Goh, 23, Tilly Soelistyo, 30, and Harry Halim, 22, winner of Asian Young Designers 2006 and Cleo's Designer of the Year 2007.
The other designers are from China and Australia. The brand also brings in freelance designers from London and New York.
The clothes range in price from $29 to $179 and include casual tops, smart woollen skirts and sexy satin dresses.
'We're designing for women who are confident and bold but feminine at the same time,' says Halim.
