Quick Questions with The Ultimate Start-Up Space Finalists – Part 3

To learn more about the finalists for The Ultimate Start-Up Space competition, each of the 10 finalists will answer 3 questions:

1. Why this idea?

2. Why this space? (Why do you feel like your idea best suits the shop space at 29 Boon Tat Street?)

3. Why this team? (Why do you think you’re the best person/team to realize your business idea in this space?)

In this post, we feature the answers from 3 of the finalists in random order.

Public supports plays a big part in determining the winner. If you have a favorite among the finalists, pledge your support here.

Bespoke Leather Shop

Why this idea?

The 3 of us are huge leather fans ourselves. We find the heritage and art behind it extremely amazing. Leather is actually one of the oldest materials in existence and to date, it is still widely used in numerous of applications from luxury bags to car interiors. Having said that, we feel that the selection of affordable quality leather goods in Singapore is very limited. While luxury labels may sell leather goods, they often come with a hefty price tag.

An emerging trend that we noticed over the past couple of years was the rise of customization and personalization for various goods and services. Currently, we can get stuff from customized bubble tea to tailored made suits. Unfortunately, there isn’t a place that provides customized leather solutions in Singapore. For this reason, we pitched in our idea, BESPOKE, which is a premium leather craft workshop that aims to create quality leather goods for the working professionals.

Our business idea was conceived because we realized that there are many individuals out there who are not able to find a suitable leather bag/carry solution that are fitted for their daily use, lifestyle and budget. The fact is that every single individual is unique – they carry different personal items or tools out each day and they vary in terms of taste and design preferences.

More often than not, they end up purchasing products of the shelves even thought they do not completely fulfill their needs, but rather because that’s closest they could find in the market. We believe individuals shouldn’t have to adapt themselves to a product; a product should be adapted for the individual.

Times have changed. Consumers don’t just want a simple product as before, they seek additional features through personalization and customization. They like the fact that they can inject little elements of themselves into the products that they use. To create a product that’s one-of-a-kind to them that expresses their unique individuality. They never want to be in a situation where they are caught with the same product as their peers. Everyone wants to be different in his or her own way.
At the same time, we believe that quality leather goods should be made affordable and accessible to the masses. We hope to bring custom leather solutions to everyone without the pinch of luxury label prices. At BESPOKE, customers will be able to built custom leather products, designed around their specific needs or requirements and personalized to their liking. They will be able to choose from our selection of leather types, color and type of finish, the shape and size of the product and even the colour of the stitching threads. They can make small leather goods such as device covers or laptop cases, to large leather goods such as women’s’ clutches to men’s document workbags and even larger items like furniture.