Originally from the Netherlands, Frederieke van Doorn has worked in high-end fashion in Europe and Asia for many years. She has now launched a women’s workwear brand, Frey, at a new store in Hong Kong’s Central district, which opened with a ready-to-wear collection in September.

The brand’s “Create Your Own” tailored clothing will be available in December, as well as a specialist app for accurate measurements for both bespoke and off-the-rack clothing.

What inspired your new brand, Frey?

Frederieke van Doorn: “The quality of women’s clothing in Hong Kong is very, very low. I come from high-end men’s tailoring and I’ve now implemented that quality in women’s workwear. The tailors who make suits for men in Hong Kong – that’s not the quality level I’m doing.

“Most suits here are glued together, and if there’s a little bit of rain, then you have to throw it away. I’ve always done half canvas, full canvas [suit linings]. There’s a little bit of fusing, but not a lot.”

Is production experience important to ensure the best manufacture of high-end fashion?

“I studied at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute and then started in the tailoring business in Europe in 2002. In 2007, I moved to China, where I worked in fashion, and three years ago to Hong Kong. We use a manufacturer in Zhejiang province. I only work with people I have long-term relationships with. They know my product, they know my standards, I walk in the factory, I know them. I talk to the pattern-maker, I talk to the technicians. I quality control.”

Frey will soon offer “Create Your Own” bespoke clothes and use an app, Tailie, for measuring the fit for both tailored and off-the-rack garments. How accurate is the app?

“The biggest problem for online shopping around the world is returns, and 60 to 70 per cent of returns are because of wrong sizing. This app will link you to the best size in the webstore. I’ve come across a lot of these apps, they are usually more complicated. From everything I’ve seen, this is the easiest one to use.”

How will the app work to improve the fit of clothes?

“You will be able to download the Tailie app to your phone from a link on the Frey website, and there will be step-by-step instructions to walk you through it. You use your own phone to click two photos of you in tight clothes – from the side and the back – against a white wall, and we will get a size passport with accurate measurements.

“A Dutch company developed the app, we invested in it, and it’s now being used by three or four other companies in Europe.”

Why did you recruit fashion designer Yulia Tlili, who taught at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Hong Kong, to work on the Frey brand?

“I have ideas and I needed someone who could put them on paper and realise them. We had a meeting and I asked her to make the first Frey collection. What I really like, why we really connected, is because she’s a designer but she also thinks about production, she also thinks, ‘We need to make it.’