The right business moves, teamwork, and having their party dresses and other clothing lines manufactured outside the Philippines are the Chuachoy couple’s formula for success in their apparel brand business.
It was always Ethel Chuachoy’s dream to have her own apparel brand that she’ll setup in a major mall.
In 2000, businesswoman Ethel Chuachoy grabbed the opportunity to make her dream a reality when SM City Cebu offered a space along the clothes and apparel zone of the mall.
“It so happened that a space opened up in SM. It was ideal for a clothes boutique as it was located in the clothes and apparel zone of the mall. That became the opportunity I have been waiting for,” said Ethel Chuachoy who was then helping her husband manage their other businesses.
The couple also owns Ben’s Lechon.
Soon enough, Sands Studio Boutique opened in SM offering smart and comfortable party clothes for women.
The boutique is different from others because the couple offers affordable party dresses made in factories outside the Philippines.
“We have factories in Hong Kong and Vietnam. The dress are all tailored-fit for the size of Asian women so we are sure that all our dresses really fit the contours and shape of the Filipino women,” said Alex Chuachoy who’s helping run the business after Ethel got pregnant last year.
After almost 10 years in the business, the brand has grown and has its own customer base.
From being exclusive to party dresses, the brand evolved after the couple realized that they had to carry more product lines that women would need for their everyday activities.
And so the boutique now carries other clothing lines, footwear lines such as of wedges, stilletos, flats and and clogs.
“For the casual line, we have a mix of Korean and European fashion which are made of light materials that will fit our natural warm climate,” said Alex Chuachoy.
In 2010, the couple opened their second branch in Cebu at Parkmall.
The expansion was the first sign that the brand has already grown and would be ready to tap other markets outside of SM City Cebu.
To keep their collections trendy, the couple said would update themselves with the latest apparel around the world.
“Now it’s more of the garden colors and designs. We have floral printed blouses, asymmetrical designs, light materials that are semi ‘see-throughs’. We are also seeing a lot of the summer colors now starting to come in with summer also coming,” said Alex.
Their foot wear lines also carry trendy wedges and flats that will surely capture the taste of women across all the age markets.
“They are comfortable and have trendy designs so women will really like to have them,” said Alex, who did some of the designs, picked the materials and colors for every model.
For their party dress line, the couple made sure that they have all the latest cuts, colors and designs of most cocktail and long party dresses.
“Anyone can pick a dress of their choice from our boutique, may that be for a weekend bar party or a formal occasion like weddings and graduations. We also made sure we have all the well preferred materials like the silk, chiffon and more,” said Alex.
Their swimwear line is the couple’s latest addition to their boutique.
The brand has come a long way from just a single brand with a simple one product line concept to a more revolutionized concept now that carries just about anything a lady could wish for.
Despite more competition in the market as other international brands had started to set up shop in malls, the Chuachoys said that local brands like their brand still had the competitive edge as they could still offer quality products at affordable prices.
“We have blouses here that you can buy at only P140. Our prices don’t go beyond P2,000 so it’s really affordable for everyone,” said Chuachoy.
The couple plans to continue to introduce more product lines in their boutique such as in-house brands for children and men.
“We are studying the possibility of introducing in-house brands that will cater to specific markets like babies and kids and men. We hope to have them within the year,” said Chuachoy.
They also plan to expand to another mall in Cebu City.
Chuachoy said they would need at least P5 million to setup the new branch.