Bag-ging the best

IF you were to surf Sometime by Asian Designers (Sometime)'s website, you'll see that most of their products are sold out. This is not a technical glitch because these bags are indeed selling like hotcakes among Malaysians.
Sometime is a local bag specialist company that co-designs with selected Asian designers and fashion icons, to produce exclusive designer bags without the conventional retail markup. It has, therefore, garnered such a cult following that every design sells out as soon as it is launched. So much so that some has made untrue allegations about its popularity.
"I have seen many who commented on social media that our products often run out of stock because we only produce 10 units per design. Although it is true that each collection is created in limited quantities, the numbers are way off. Regardless of the brand, designer or icon that we work with, the bags are produced in an average of thousands," explained co-founder, Nicole Wong.
As for the reason behind their popularity? The exceptional quality of their bags. All their designer bags are semi-handmade to ensure attention to detail and quality of the end products. Shying away from animal skin, the brand uses microfiber and high quality synthetic leather to produce bags with similar durability and aesthetic qualities of genuine leather.
"We believe in developing products that last. Unlike clothing, bag has to be practical because it carries your daily necessities. Hence, we focus a lot on the workmanship. A good product not only speaks for itself, but will also retain customers' support," she elaborated.
This four-year old label is the brainchild of Wong and her partner. After seeing how exorbitant designer bags are, they founded the brand to provide quality bags at an affordable price.

"I was a product adviser for luxurious brands so I know that most branded bags are priced 10 to 20 times more expensive than the actual cost. Moreover, I see the potential in helping Asian designers. Do you realise that whenever anyone talk about a designer bag, it's usually an European brand? It is because of these reasons that we want to create affordable bags while helping Asian designers."
To date, Sometime has collaborated with several icons from the industry, namely Alia Bastaman, Vivy Yusof, Christy Ng and Sazzy Falak. These partnerships are separated into two categories: 'designed by' and 'inspired by'.
The former is conceptualised entirely by the designers, while the latter is where the celebrities provide their input. Nevertheless, according to Wong, these personalities are eager to work together with Sometime as it's a win-win situation.
"Fashion designers are generally skilled in making clothes or shoes, but not bags as bag making requires more than just a beautiful sketch. To convert a design into an actual product, you need to consider the hardware, material and more. Thus, Sometime is a platform where they can learn all these skills," she said.
More than just a collaboration platform, Wong has also designed several series under the label. The marketing-graduate transformed her love for bucket bags into some of the bestselling products on the site.
"For my collection, I already know what I wanted hence coming up with the designs wasn't difficult. What's tough is that since this is my own creations, I worked harder in perfecting every single detail for I wanted it to be flawless. In fact, it took more than 20 prototypes before I was satisfied," she added.
Wong's perfectionist nature bodes well not just for her future collection, but also for the company. After all, a label is only as good as the person behind it.