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[SINGAPORE] It began as a family-run business offering made-to-measure performance and dancewear tailoring out of an Orchard Plaza unit with three sewing machines tucked at the back.

Affectionately known as the “small brown shop”, it stood at just 300 square feet, or about 2.5 times a typical parking lot space in Singapore.

Today, its Funan mall outlet spans some 2,300 sq ft; it boasts a physical store each in Malaysia’s Selangor and Thailand’s Bangkok, and it carries out shipping worldwide to customers from Australia to Amsterdam.

The mission of Sonata Dancewear? To help dancers from tiny tots to professional artistes be better at their art with best-quality and high-performance materials, said executive director Bridget Tai.

The shop’s story began in 1982, before Tai was even born.

Way before ballet became a recreational activity, Tai’s mother was already a professional dancer who – in a bid to save money – made her own clothes, and went on to do so for her friends, too.

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“When they all retired, they were the first batch of dance teachers in Singapore,” said Tai.

“And if clothing was too expensive, people would not take up ballet. So she started developing affordable and good quality products,” she continued. “This is a core value that we hold through today, which is quality and functionality in every single product that we bring in or make.”

But even before she took over the shop some 14 years ago, Tai’s life had already been woven into the tapestry of Sonata Dancewear.

While pregnant with her, Tai’s mother continued plying her trade seven days a week.

After Tai was born, the shop became somewhat of a childcare centre where she went after school. As her parents worked, she did her homework – or not, she quipped.

When it got busy, a young Tai would help tend to customers.

“I think that’s where I grew interest and attachment to the brand,” she told The Business Times.

“I’ll make friends with the neighbours; there used to be a mama shop upstairs where I’ll buy snacks, and when my parents closed the shop, we went home,” reminisced Tai. “That’s where I grew up.”

Modern spin

Compared to its origins as an old-school tailor, Sonata Dancewear now caters a comprehensive range of products for dancers from head to toe, for all ages, genders or needs – whether it be examination wear, warm-up apparel or lifestyle attire.

Its flagship store in Funan mall comes complete with challenge areas that feature balance balls, wall-mounted barres, educational touch points as well as an elevated space for pointe shoe fittings.

When asked about the shop’s revenue breakdown by product, Tai replied that the lion’s share of its top line is accounted for by the dancewear segment, as its lifestyle range was only started after the pandemic.

“That’s when we realised that there is a market for lifestyle wear because recreational activities were stopped. And when there’s no dancing, nobody wants to buy gear, so we started developing activewear,” said Tai.

As for Sonata Dancewear’s revenue breakdown by geography, most of its sales come from South-east Asia, with Singapore making up the bulk of it.

Expansion plans

For now, Tai’s growth strategy is to expand across Asia, with the brand in the middle of market research into several of its key markets it already has some sort of presence in, such as Australia and Hong Kong.

Sonata Dancewear is not just drilling down into existing markets, but also expanding into new ones, said Tai.

How she knows it is time to move beyond a certain market is when sales start to hold steady and taper off, added Tai, especially because the dancewear market is so niche.

Besides growing its international markets, another key goal for Sonata Dancewear is to work directly with international dance studios and expand its business-to-business segment.

“We’re going to put in a lot more effort in creating a presence in those countries, and then hopefully turning them into retail stores once there is enough interest,” said Tai.

Ballet in DNA?

Succession planning is not yet on the radar for the 36-year-old executive director and mother.

When asked if her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Thea, has shown any sort of interest in dance, Tai laughed and admitted that she has not – or not yet, at least.

“I feel that if you want an interest to last, it has to be from the heart,” said Tai, who picked up ballet at three. “If you don’t cultivate the interest from the heart, it’s very short-lived, and I don’t want that for my kid.”

On whether she has any plans to pass the business down to Thea, Tai acknowledged that it was a question that always comes up and replied: “It’s really hard to tell… This is really not easy, to be honest, so I’ll be happy if she finds another interest and a job out there…

“It’s a lot of burden to run a business,” said the business administration and sociology graduate, who started full-time work at Sonata Dancewear upon graduation from university.

Banking across generations

Sonata Dancewear’s digitalisation journey was a substantial undertaking, said Tai.

“It was all paper, and then we jumped right into ERP (enterprise resource planning). It wasn’t small steps, and UOB was one of the partners that helped us make that happen,” she added. “Without UOB, we wouldn’t have been able to scale and grow.”

The relationship between Tai and the bank began as a business relationship, but evolved as a network and community emerged.

As a client of the lender, Tai had the opportunity to participate as a mentee in one of UOB’s programmes for female entrepreneurs, and received business, strategy and financial insights from the bank’s country head for business banking in Singapore, Paul Kan.

“As an entrepreneur, I’m like a jack of all trades and I don’t specialise in finance… It’s hard to get very good financial advice unless you pay big money for it, and Paul gives very good financial insights,” said Tai.

Said UOB head of group business banking Kavita Bedi: “Business connections drive growth and build stronger enterprises.”

She noted that the bank is committed to enabling female business leaders to meet new partners, foster growth opportunities and build capabilities.

“Through business coaching programmes such as our Digitalisation Innovation Programme for womenpreneurs, networking events, and comprehensive financing and non-financing solutions, we enable women-led SMEs to grow their business sustainably,” said Bedi.

Tai said the entrepreneurial journey is a rewarding one, because she gets to do what she likes.

“It fits like a cookie cutter – I love the art form. I used to dance, my mom was a dancer then a teacher (and started) the business,” explained Tai.

“It’s very rewarding to still be part of the dance scene even though I’m working,” she concluded.

“It makes me feel like we are helping, because our vision is to help dancers be better dancers, and now I am part of a group that helps to elevate the dance scene.”

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