Online retail gets personal at Wonderlust + Co, writes Aznim Ruhana Md Yusup.
JENN Low started a girl gang eight years ago. Instead of violence and machetes, the #WCOgirlgang were armed with cute jewellery and a shared sense of sisterhood.
It was about women coming together with other women, to bond with one another and to support each other.
On social media particularly, this idea of female empowerment through solidarity has gotten stronger in recent years.
But Low, 34, explains that it has always been the cornerstone of Wanderlust + Co, the jewellery company she started out of her home in Melbourne, Australia.
Low has since packed her family and business to Kuala Lumpur.
“My vision is to speak to every millennial girl everywhere that it doesn't matter what your skin tone or your size is. When you put a necklace on, it will fit and you look good,” she says with a slight Australian twang.
It’s the sort of thing that has earned Wanderlust + Co a global audience, which is said to include the likes of Kendall Jenner and Selena Gomez.
Being an e-commerce brand allows them to connect to customers directly in any part of the world, as well as shops or stockists in places like the US and UK.
Low says: “A lot of people don’t know we’re Malaysian or from Asia. People have mistaken us as being from Los Angeles or Australia. We talk so much about globalisation and trading with no borders and we truly live in a time when that is possible.”
But Low still very much treasures the connection that’s made possible through her jewellery.
For the Christmas shopping season last year, she released the Zodiac collection. She had the earrings and necklace pendants based on the star constellation of each zodiac, rather than the animal symbol. She also offered personalised message writing for those buying the pieces as gifts.
“So we had really sweet notes from mothers to daughters or from friends to friends from places like Japan or Wisconsin in the US. It was a lot of work but when you’re an e-commerce store you don’t get that personal experience from customers so that was really nice.”
AFFORDABLE WONDER
The key to Wanderlust + Co’s success is their price point. Often the customer will find jewellery from high street brands on the low end of the price point that isn’t made using quality material and isn’t designed to last.
At the other end of the spectrum are specialised jewellery stores that sell precious metal and gemstones at high prices.
So Wanderlust + Co was created to bridge the gap in the market by offering pieces between RM50 and RM300.
“I found that it was really easy to use something that is metal-based, which for us is brass, and have it plated,” she says. “All our pieces are plated with either 14 or 24 carat gold. The silver pieces use rhodium because sterling silver goes black over time as it oxidises. Rhodium is much more low maintenance.
“But because it is costume jewellery, the gold or rhodium plating does fade over time, perhaps in a year or a year-and-a-half if worn daily. The difference is, with real jewellery you can bring it back to the jewellers to re-plate but with costume jewellery, you can’t.”
Low wears jewellery from her brand all the time. Her favourite is the crescent and constellation design from several years back. She likes to layer her jewellery, like stacking her rings or necklaces. The impact is tasteful but still noticeable.
“People are consuming fashion in a more thoughtful way nowadays,” she adds. “They’re more informed and they know how to digest the content behind fashion. They’re also particular on who they want to see that fashion on when it comes to influencers or idols to look up to.”
Wanderlust + Co does this by being transparent. It answers customer complaints on its Instagram posts without deleting the comments. Meanwhile, Low takes her Instagram followers behind the scenes to the plants in China where the products are made.
“It’s up to brands to rise up to this challenge and give customers what they want, whether it is sustainability, diversity or inclusivity because together we can create a better ecosystem in fashion,” Low says.
POP UP STORE AND BIRTHSTONE
To celebrate Wanderlust + Co’s eighth anniversary in September, the company has opened its first pop-up store in Malaysia at 1 Utama Shopping Centre.
“It’s so surreal to come full circle, creating an offline experience, for our Malaysian #WCOgirlgang,” says Low.
“Our goal is to enhance their shopping journey with our omni-channel strategy, breathing life into our digital brand experience within the pop-up store.”
Meanwhile, the company has also released the Birthstone collection. The pieces are created to highlight the birthstone specific to each person’s birth month, which makes them perfect for gifts. And just in time for Christmas too!
Each piece is handcrafted with a dreamy constellation setting plated in 18K gold and studded with cubic zirconia stones, and crowned by the gem associated with the wearer’s birth month, such as aquamarine for March, emerald for May and opal for October.
“The necklace has a gem layer with ombre shades of the birthstone so if your stone is sapphire (for September) the main stone is blue, while the others are in shades of blue,” says Low. “It’s more complicated to make but it’s worth it.”
