Looking at Malaysian women’s shoe and bag brand Nose’s online and offline presence, you’d hardly be able to tell that it’s actually a business founded in 1998 with three generations of expertise.
Due to its modern branding, it comes across like a business born in the ecommerce era, not losing out to all the hip TikTok shop brands of today.
In reality, it was founded nearly 30 years ago by Edward Yee and Sue Koh, a married couple who hails from Ipoh. But they aren’t the first in their family to pursue shoemaking for a living.
Rather, Edward’s parents were shoe factory owners and manufactured women’s, kid’s, and men’s shoes.
Inspired by his upbringing, he pursued a diploma degree in footwear design at Cordwainers (now the London College of Fashion).
Meanwhile, Sue has a double professional degree in Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and The Chartered Institute of Marketing from Stamford. And while she didn’t have a background in fashion, she always had a keen eye for fashion and art.
Sharing this with Vulcan Post is Vicky, the third-generation Yee and second-generation leader of Nose.
Reinvigorating the family business
Now 28 years old, Vicky was actually interested in exploring a career in the branding and creative industry.
She was particularly inspired by one beauty company called Glossier.
“At the point of inception, Glossier was a gamechanger in the beauty industry, and in my opinion changed the game of how customers interact with brands in general,” Vicky expressed.
She believes that from that point, brands across all industries began adapting and innovating. And while she didn’t end up venturing into that industry, she herself has taken some cues from the movement and brought that to Nose.
“Unfortunately branding and marketing was not an aspect the company paid attention to or adapted with, so it became a brand that didn’t really resonate with the new type of customers who were seeking for brands that aligned with their aesthetics or values,” Vicky said.
Thus, when she joined the business, she strongly pushed for a rebranding exercise. But Nose was greatly affected by the pandemic, which meant the rebranding exercise had to be carried out in a gradual manner.
Things started to materialise at the end of 2023 where the team introduced a new logo, packaging, colour, and other branding elements.
Since then, they’ve pushed the new brand direction and identity via campaigns, social media, influencers, new store openings, and product offerings.
Their main campaign last year—Strong & Feminine—was the campaign to tie everything together, encapsulating their new direction.
“Moving forward, I hope to continue highlighting Nose to be a female-focused brand that all females feel celebrated by,” Vicky expressed.
Not a shoe-in
Although Nose boasts decades of history, there are a lot of newer brands popping up nowadays offering cheaper bags and shoes.
“In terms of brand positioning, we are a mid-range brand so we can’t compete with price slashing like most brands on Shopee or TikTok Shops do,” Vicky said.
However, that also means that Nose tends to offer higher quality and workmanship.
After all, the fit of a shoe can actually be quite finicky. Backed with two generations’ shoemaking expertise, Nose is better able to strike the right balance between comfort, quality, and visual appeal.
Since the rebranding, Nose has also elevated the quality and materials of their products to stay above the competition while maintaining a competitive and accessible price point.
“Most importantly, we stay true to our brand value to continuously build trust and loyalty with our customers,” Vicky said. “Quality and comfort are our most important values so we make sure our materials and supply chain align with that.”
Persevering through challenges
Over the years, Nose has faced many challenges. In the early days, there was the challenge of establishing the brand in the market. This was back in the 90s and early 2000s, where the shopping malls were the only place to legitimise your brand.
But with Edward and Sue being based in Ipoh their whole lives, they did not have the connections to help get them through the door.
Vicky shared, “On a weekly basis, they would call up the leasing team to give them the opportunity to lease as a tenant. At this time, there were also other competitors in the malls who resisted and pressured the leasing team. But alas, Nose’s first store opened in Suria KLCC.”
With that, Nose began to grow over the years. But then, the pandemic struck and shifted the industry in a big way. For one, shoes weren’t something many were shopping for. But more detrimental was the rentals from shopping malls.
“Rent was due regardless of the pandemic as per our leasing contract, and there was no government or legal involvement in this matter to ease retailers’ burden,” Vicky pointed out.
Although the team tried to negotiate with the leasing team of each mall, some did not sway. Due to this, Nose closed down four stores.
Thankfully, the business managed to pull through, and did enjoy the “revenge spending splurge” from customers which bolstered the business after this trying time.
And of course, the rebranding exercise was a challenge in itself.
“Internally, the struggle firstly was to educate and change the minds of the older generation,” Vicky admitted. “At the same time, we had to attract and build a younger team to build our creative and marketing arm.”
Pushing the new brand image to customers was difficult too. “Along the way we did lose some customers and had to persevere to attract new and younger customers,” Vicky said.
Six locations and counting
To continue attracting new customers, Nose is working on creating more designs that can be their “hero items.”
“We’ve been quite successful on the ecommerce platforms like Shopee and Zalora but our official website has been lacking so we’re working on increasing the sales and customer experience on our official website,” Vicky elaborated.
Beyond that, Vicky has ambitious plans to expand abroad and build Nose’s presence outside of Malaysia as well. The business had been present in stores in the Middle East prior to COVID, and had consignment agreements in Thailand, too.
With Nose’s online sales to neighbouring countries increasing as of late, the brand is open to expanding abroad again, given the right partners.
Although Nose has gone through some tough times over the past three decades, it has continued to stand strong until today. Through rebranding and rebuilding, they might just have what it takes to reach greater heights.
“Ultimately, we want to build a long lasting business with long term and sustainable success,” Vicky concluded.
Featured Image Credit: Nose
