It was five years ago that Beyond The Vines was established. Founded by husband-and-wife duo Daniel Chew and Rebecca Ting — the latter handles the creative and design aspect while Chew oversees business development — the homegrown brand started out offering deftly designed, understated womenswear that focused on clean architectural lines.

Beyond The Vines was successful in that it captured a loyal female audience in Singapore over the years. Its minimalism-led designs were easy enough to integrate into an existing wardrobe and the price point was relatively affordable.

Then in September 2020, the brand cleared out any evidence of its formative five years from its Instagram account; and in a video post, depicted the packing of its last five years into a box, closed and sealed, as if but a memory.

If change is really the only constant, Beyond The Vines is now ready to take things further and better than ever before. For starters, it is no longer a womenswear brand. In fact, it calls itself a design studio — a term that's reflective of what the brand seeks to do, which is 'create boldly, design simply' . It now has officially expanded to include menswear (after introducing a unisex capsule collection last year) and a growing range of lifestyle products that range from colourful stationery to branded tapes. And all these excellently displayed in its new concept store at the heart of Orchard Road.

It's definitely not lost on any of us, and especially the founders, that they've rebranded and launched a new physical space while still dealing with a global pandemic. As businesses both big and small are taking hits, Beyond The Vines looks to be the poster child for better days ahead in the retail sector, especially thanks to a viral nylon bag creation. Ting tells me that they're lucky and blessed to have it all "worked out".

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