An investment banker by day and social entrepreneur by night, Tony K Tan is redefining the sustainable fashion landscape with his profits-for-purpose shopping app, Smthgood (short for Something Good), billed as the first of its kind in the Asia Pacific.
Sparked by self-reflection during the pandemic and spurred by his interest in understanding the macro trends and human psyche, Tan decided to revisit his pre-banking aspirations of social entrepreneurship that culminated in Smthgood, which launched this January.
“I knew I wanted to do something that’s more B2C (business-to-consumer). Style and shopping are the language of consumerism and something we can all understand. But why start with women’s fashion? Because it has a very wide and deep vertical which holds promise for the business side of things,” he says.
“We want to speak to not just people who are just conscious fashion buyers, but the general public, and give them opportunities to evoke change. I just need one person to make that bit more of a conscious choice, and we’re off to a good start.
“Fashion is such a dirty industry and has a lot of white space to do better. I see these small, medium-sized brands that genuinely want to make a difference and do something good. And that’s the reason why I’m calling it Smthgood. I want to combine for-profit and social good.”
This comes at a perfect time when sustainable fashion and conscious consumption have been the buzzwords of late, currently served by ethical shopping platforms like Singapore-based Zerrin and Malaysia’s Poptron.
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“With consumers becoming even more discerning in their purchasing choices, we see heightened awareness amongst consumers making choices in favour of conscious products and support for brands that stand for more than profit,” says Tan.
After all, the fashion industry is among the world’s most polluting industries, consuming up to 200 trillion litres of water yearly, accounting for about 10% of global emissions. In addition, the polyester in clothes makes up between 20% to 35% of microplastic pollution in the ocean.
“The decision to create Smthgood came after we saw that consumer buying behaviour continues to evolve and shift away from a purely transactional experience and move towards one led by purpose, discovery, inspiration, and personalisation.”
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Obsessed with data, Tan took a numbers-first approach at the ideation stage, and research was a key part of it. He shares that based on a story by Meta and Bain, 60% of today’s customers are driven by discovery-led inspiration and are looking for new purchasing experiences. In a 2021 study by NYU Stern School of Business, green products, which account for only 17% of the market overall, have grown 2.7 times faster than conventional products since 2015. And in a paper by the IBM Institute for Business Value 2022, it’s reported that purpose-driven buying has taken over price-driven buying at 44% to 37%.
Tan also commissioned his study among 500 local consumers between 18 and 44 to uncover their shopping habits. He learnt that women enjoy fashion and shopping whether for sustainable brands or not; they think ethical apparel doesn’t look very stylish and feel the price points for these conscious labels are too high.
Helping to address these concerns, Tan is supported by a young and dynamic team to select more planet-forward labels that look fashion-forward, with many well-priced items broadly in the range of between US$20 ($26.61) and US$200.
Currently, the app has about 60 small to medium-sized apparel and accessory brands from across the Asia Pacific, which have been carefully curated to align with Smthgood’s values based on three factors: what the item is made of, how the item is made, and the impact of the finished item on the environment. “We need to make sure our visions align, and they are comfortable being represented by us.”
To get listed, there is no upfront fee required for now. Smthgood will take a very low, almost nominal commission from selling every product. “I don’t feel that now is the right time to charge a fee as we’re still a start-up, and our focus is to champion smaller businesses. But ultimately, the economics needs to work for us as well, as this is still a for-profit operation,” says Tan.
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Rupahaus
Some of the notable brands featured on the platform include Thamon from Thailand, which uses fallen leaves (instead of leather) to make bags; Outfyt from Singapore, which crafts activewear from fishnets and fabric scraps destined for landfills; Kamaya from Bali, which creates jewellery using handmade sea glass collected from the ocean; and Rafikimono, a gender- and -size-inclusive label from The Philippines, which makes beautiful kimonos using deadstock fabrics from garment factories.
And, for those who think organic or sustainable fashion is relegated to just scratchy fabrics in shapeless silhouettes or boring neutral hues, Singapore-owned OliveAnkara and Dear Senggigi from Lombok will change your minds with their bold prints and bright colours.
A challenging start
Putting together the app was not easy for Tan, who engaged a local developer to bring his ideas to life. “What I had in mind for the platform was not the most straightforward. I think no one has attempted to combine a lookbook feature and a marketplace,” he says. “Now that we have launched, it’s about ensuring I can react fast to feedback.”
As he’s bootstrapping, cost-conscious Tan is spending on resources in a very measured way that makes sense from a cost perspective. To streamline workflow, he plans to build his internal team of app engineers. He has a full-time tech team from Myanmar, business development specialists in Indonesia, and customer service personnel from The Philippines. Headquartered in Singapore, his local team handles all aspects of marketing from a co-working space.
Creating lookbooks for cash
One of the key components of Smthgood is a Lookbook Styling Tool which encourages users to curate their shoppable mood boards and express their inner sartorialist. Like scrapbooking, the function comes with various tools, including different backgrounds, stickers, editable text boxes, and templates categorised in different styles.
To incentivise creators, they earn cashback (coins) or rewards if someone likes or buys an item from their lookbooks. This forms a completely different approach to driving sales, one that evolves from a pure transactional user journey towards discovery-led, gamified and fun. Of course, if lookbooking isn’t your thing, users will still be rewarded with Smthgood coins for simply shopping on the platform.
“We’re trying to create a complete ecosystem to help spread awareness about the garment industry’s environmental impact and social footprint. Rather than just making people buy conscious fashion, we want people to interact and discuss sustainability. It’s very different when you start engaging by creating, and we are incentivising you to create.”
Tan also shares that Smthgood will routinely conduct lookbook competitions for customers to win more coins and hold regular promotions with special deals or discounts.
Look good, feel good, do good
Beyond his career achievements, with over 20 years in the banking sector, Tan firmly believes that we all have the responsibility to contribute to the community around us positively and that it is possible to combine social good with “for profit” endeavours. Meeting small business owners and hearing their stories has opened his eyes to the humbling world of slow fashion and provided him with the much-needed balance to counter his banking mindset.
Growing up in a family focused on B2C ventures, he developed an interest in human behaviours and continues to be curious about how macro trends shape changes in purchasing behaviours and the psychology behind them. The inquisitive achiever got accepted into the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, at 16 and double majored in Economics and Political Science.
Tan cites faith, nature and art as sources of inspiration. Having ever considered a career in acting while growing up, he took a sabbatical and spent more than a month in New York City, studying film acting at New York Film Academy, where he learnt to understand and appreciate human behaviours even more. “I get very inspired by people passionate about their craft.”
One of his proudest contributions to Smthgood is committing to purchasing 1,000 carbon credits annually — an equivalent of 47,619 trees being planted — to offset the emissions from the app. “Knowing about the supply and demand of carbon credit is a very practical expression for me as a banker and one of the ways it can help the environment,” he says.
“When I first came on board, my lofty goal was to be Asia’s head of sustainable fashion, where I can help people buy better and make better choices. You can’t find a conscious fashion marketplace of this scale. I hope to fill that niche, but I have a long way to go. I’m shooting for the stars, but who knows, I might end up on the moon one day!”
With the app just a few months old, it’s still early days for Tan. While he’s not expecting to turn a profit so soon, he’s confident that Smthgood will leave a deep impression on shoppers who care about today’s social and environmental issues. This year’s focus will be on getting customer feedback, recalibrating the app’s features, populating it with more brands, and marketing the brand to a wider audience.
“I’d be lying if I told you I know what happens next, but I see more verticals in the future, maybe for menswear and lifestyle,” he adds.
