interview
From left: Electric Sekki's Wong Chuk Hang headquarters; Amiee Squires-Wills.
Amiee Squires-Wills Hannah Grogan talks flip-flops and fashion with the founder of Electric Sekki. How long have you lived in Hong Kong? I've been in Hong Kong for almost nine years and I moved here to start Electric Sekki. Your business is based in Wong Chuk Hang, what drew you to the area? I love the Southside and Wong Chuk Hang is especially great for fashion head offices – Lane Crawford, Joyce and IT are in the neighbourhood. South Bay beach is a favourite for my family; we spend many summers there. And Coco Thai has great food at Deep Water Bay. We have dinner there on Sundays, watching the sunset with a nice glass of vino. What brought you to Hong Kong? I travelled through Asia every month from Australia to the head office in London when I worked for the Stirling Group as international marketing director for fashion. I always wondered why certain brands were not available in Hong Kong. Havaianas was doing very well
in Australia so I did some research and found it was available for distribution. It became the first brand for Electric Sekki, which focuses on fashion distribution and brand development in Asia. It was also probably the hardest – I presented the brand to every buyer in Hong Kong, but no one understood it. After a long 12 months with no orders, a very good friend, Derek, placed the first order for the Lane Crawford men’s department. The rest is history. That was in 2004, and since then Electric Sekki’s portfolio has grown to comprise many international brands. I pioneered Australian designers into Asia and built Australian brand awareness in Asia.
Any new projects coming up? A couple of things I can’t talk about. What I can talk about is the launch of Superga in Hong Kong; it’s the world’s oldest sneaker brand from Italy, with more than a hundred years of history. We’re opening a store in Harbour City on March 30 with loads of cool, coloured Supergas and limited editions for men, women, kids and babies. We’re very excited! For fashion updates, read Electric Sekki’s blog at blog.electricsekki.com.
What’s with the name? My business partner came up with it. I liked “Electric” because of its vibrancy and dynamic feeling, and my Japanese friend suggested “Sekki”, which means cool and fashionable in Japanese. Put together it’s dynamic cool fashion.
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