Hong Kong’s indie fashion labels bloom at new Tsim Sha Tsui pop-up

Not long after its founding in 2019, Hong Kong fashion label YanYan Knits faced – like many fledgling companies at the time – a seemingly insurmountable hurdle: Covid-19. It survived the global pandemic and, as its seventh anniversary approaches – and with stockists from Japan to Australia and North America – it is safe to say the Hong Kong fashion label is now a force to be reckoned with. Still, it can be difficult for smaller brands to carve out their own spaces, physical or metaphorical, in a cramped, expensive city like Hong Kong. To help elevate the local fashion scene and independent labels, YanYan has teamed up with two other Hong Kong fashion brands – Aenrmous and Kinyan Lam – for Chance Encounters, a pop-up shop, “living retail environment” and evolving exhibition space featuring the three brands and a host of other local labels. The 10,000 sq ft (930 square metre) shopfront in the Silvercord mall on Canton Road, a prime fashion destination in Tsim Sha Tsui, is the first project from YAK, a new design collective comprising the three brands. YanYan is known for its colourful, eclectic knitwear using leftover yarn. It subtly incorporates Chinese elements, such as pineapple knot details and scribbled traditional motifs, into its whimsical, contemporary designs. The co-founders, Phyllis Chan Ji-li and Suzzie Chung Yuen-shan, met at school as “two weirdos who liked fashion”, Chan says, and have been friends since they were 15. After studying fashion design at university – Chan in New York and Chung in Hong Kong – they worked in the fashion industry before both burning out. In their early thirties, they decided to start something together and launched YanYan. “Because we were burnt out from design, we wanted people to understand how much time is put into design and to highlight the quality and artisanship of garments made in this part of the world,” Chan says. The duo describes YanYan’s cutesy-yet-nostalgic style as like “a very tomboyish girl that wants to be girly … she is not fuzzy and kind of weird”, but there are still “a lot of really feminine aspects”. Chung says that using leftover yarn is one of the factors that drives YanYan’s aesthetic, as it limits the palette, which gradually “took on a life of its own”. Similarly, the YAK collective is a seemingly mismatched trio: founded in 2021, Aenrmous has a dark, avant-garde aesthetic and creates unisex techwear that would not look out of place in the Dune film franchise; Kinyan Lam, on the other hand, has been making contemporary pieces that embrace slow fashion and natural dyes since 2022. Each of the three brands has its own responsibilities: YanYan focuses on operations, Aenrmous is in charge of set design and installations, and Kinyan Lam works on graphic design and painted visuals. Despite their stylistic differences, the owners of the three brands have shared fashion week showrooms in mainland China and have previously talked about working together in their shared home city of Hong Kong. That is why, when the founders of YanYan came across the short-term, relatively affordable vacancy at Silvercord, they jumped at the opportunity in December 2025. It was at quite short notice and, when the lease began in early January 2026, some of the brands to be featured were not ready. However, that only added to the pop-up’s playfulness as an evolving boutique that looks a little different every two weeks. Some of the newer tenants include PabePabe – a quirky accessories brand founded in 2018 that fuses everyday items like Wellington boots and electrical plugs with handbags – and Ponder.er, a gender-fluid label founded in 2019 whose soft textiles challenge traditional masculinity. Other brands include The World is Your Oyster, Karmuel Young and Meilan, all of which inhabit their own corners in the spacious shopfront. Chan calls Chance Encounters a “kind of experimental retail concept”, but it is also about discovery and exploration. She says that bringing these indie brands together has been a fruitful experience as the designers have a shared space to meet, inspire and learn about one another. In this age of online shopping and fast fashion, there is something magical and irreplaceable about searching through a clothes rack and feeling the fabric of the garments. With YanYan’s knitwear, for example, the designer duo finds that their products do not always photograph well and are often “cuter in person”. They emphasise, however, that the pop-up shop is not just about walk-in business. With paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations by local artists including Emmy Tam, Orange Terry and Emilydrinkschocolate adorning the space, Chance Encounters is a meeting of Hong Kong’s creative minds. “The point is just to have a space that we have more control over,” Chung says. “A lot of us are stocked at [larger fashion retailers], where they control the visual merchandising. We wanted to create a world where everyone gets to present their inspirations.” With its prominent location in a popular shopping area, this is a rare opportunity for many of the local independent labels involved to tell their own stories and share their design processes and styling tips, in person, with potential customers and curious fashion enthusiasts, without the pressure of a studio visit. “Our concept,” Chung says, “was to build a space big enough for everybody to join, where we could highlight some of the Hong Kong brands and allow each brand to design their space however they want. We also wanted to engage with local artists and creatives. “It’s been a very, very collaborative experience.” Chance Encounters, Shop LG01, LG/F, Silvercord, 30 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. Until February 22. Public hours from Friday to Sunday, 1pm to 8pm. For more information, visit YAK on social media.

Hong Kong’s indie fashion labels bloom at new Tsim Sha Tsui pop-up

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Chance Encounters is a pop-up run by the brands YanYan, Aenrmous and Kinyan Lam that aims to elevate Hong Kong’s indie fashion scene

Chance Encounters is a pop-up run by the brands YanYan, Aenrmous and Kinyan Lam that aims to elevate Hong Kong’s indie fashion scene