Tibi founder Amy Smilovic reveals the brand’s Hong Kong history

Very few may know that the contemporary designer brand Tibi was founded in Hong Kong. It was off to a fortuitous start in 1997 when Amy Smilovic decided to sell her designs to expats in town, who then started wearing her clothes back home all over the world.

It has been 20 years and Tibi has transformed itself to become the authority on the modern, relaxed silhouette today. “The minute you try to be something to everything, you are nothing to anyone.” Over time, Smilovic defined her aesthetics and downsized her business. The brand is a true reflection of her distinct personal style.

We sat down with Smilovic, who was in town for the launch of her spring/summer 2018 collection, to learn more about the story behind Tibi.

How did the brand start?

When I started, I sold first to expats to see how it would go. It went really well. It was funny because the South China Morning Post did a story on it in the summer of 1997. Then Sarah Rutson from Lane Crawford, who read the article, called and picked up my clothes for Lane Crawford. The expats also started wearing [my designs] back home in the US, London, and wherever, and then I started getting more stores calling up. The brand took off from there.

I wish I had known at the time what a special position I was in to be producing in China because there were no American brands producing in China back then, other than Walmart. When I moved here, I found two young Chinese guys, and their families were [involved] in manufacturing. They did not want to do what their families did – producing stuff for Walmart for pennies on the dollar. Their idea was that since the sewers knew how to sew, they could be trained to sew luxury type products. Maybe we don’t have to do pennies on the dollar. We could do 50 cents on the dollar if we charged more for our clothing. So when they met me, it all just came together.

Would you say you were an accidental start-up business?

It’s funny because coming from a business background, I knew I wanted a big business. I used to be in sales, but my husband [told me] that I needed a business plan. And I would tell him I think I could sell ice cream to an Eskimo if I had to. We were sitting at the American Club on a Sunday as we were having that conversation, and a guy who had been overhearing us leaned over and said, ‘Go make your product. If you sell the product, you have a business. If you don’t sell the product, you don’t have a business. That’s your plan.’ So I turned to my husband and said, ‘OK, fine. I have four styles and I am going to make them. If I sell them, I have a business. If I don’t, I don’t.’ I made them and had a sale at my house. I sold them and I had a business.

You have to plan ahead to get your business going – to make sure you have cash flow and that you can cover everything. I think business plans are a bit overrated because I find people getting into the cycle of not starting the first thing because they are too worried about the last thing. Just do the first 10 things on your list, and then worry about the next 100.