Off the beaten track Wong Chuk Hang is a magnet for fashion companies
The industrial area of Wong Chuk Hang is proving a magnet for the hip and fashionable, writes Abid Rahman
Grey, noisy and dotted with characterless buildings and giant cranes, the nondescript industrial neighbourhood of Wong Chuk Hang is the last place you'd expect to find a cluster of high fashion brands.
But in the past few years fashion companies have been relocating to the area. And the recent opening of men's fashion showroom space Ed1tus there reinforces the view that the neighbourhood has become a fashion business hub.
Located on Wong Chuk Hang Road and open since the end of April, Ed1tus is a new concept for Hong Kong: a large fashion, home and lifestyle buyers and press showroom dedicated to the men's market.
It's not be as convenient as Wan Chai, but we get three times the space
"At the moment, there are no other multibrand showrooms like this here," says co-founder and co-creative director Jino Khidhr. "If we did this in Milan, there would be a lot of competition; same in New York. So we thought we'd try it in Hong Kong, which is a hub for Asia."
Khidhr dreamed up Ed1tus with David Wakely, the former menswear buying manager at Lane Crawford. The huge cavernous space, with an equally massive rooftop, is a platform for niche men's luxury brands such as Mauro Grifoni, Drumohr, Cire Trudon, FPM Luggage and many others.
Styled by Wakely, the space emphasises the visual side of fashion retail, with beautiful presentation of products. Khidhr says the aim is to make life as easy as possible for buyers by giving them advice on how to present brands at retail.
The Wong Chuk Hang area gives Khidhr and Wakely the space to fully realise their vision, but the overriding reason for locating to the area was more practical and commercial.