The story behind the emerging Vietnamese bag label Ther Gab

Established in 2022 by Vinh Nguyen and two co-founders, Ther Gab quickly became a hit among young Vietnamese consumers. Within its first year, the brand’s popularity soared, leading to a partnership with Singaporean multi-brand retailer Sift & Pick for international expansion. Riding this wave of success, Ther Gab is now setting its sights on the South Korean market, demonstrating its ambitious growth strategy. 

According to Nguyen, the journey to founding the brand was far from easy.

“I come from a middle-class family in central Vietnam. My parents wanted me to become a lawyer, so I did – I became a corporate lawyer,” the co-founder Nguyen told Inside Retail. “However, there was always an urge in me to do business.”

Nguyen said his entrepreneurial ventures started as early as high school when he used his savings to buy Chinese MP3 players and sold them to schoolmates at a considerable profit. This early success led him to explore more business ventures, experiencing both triumphs and setbacks along the way.

“The biggest setback came in 2020 when I returned to Vietnam and decided to open a restaurant and farm in Da Lat. Unfortunately, among other challenges, Covid-19 hit, and I had to shut down operations, incurring losses.” 

In 2022, Nguyen teamed up with designer MT and his long-term friend Julia to found Ther Gab. Inspired by traditional Vietnamese folk culture, Ther Gab handbags showcase sophisticated designs that reflect the wearer’s unique personality, offering a range of exclusive styles, including limited-edition pieces that exemplify craftsmanship.

“Our designers and production team create a lot of prototypes but we only release those with special designs; and when we launch them, each bag has a story that is rooted in Vietnamese culture,” he said. 

Steady growth 

“Many would question whether it was the right thing to start a fashion brand given the local brand scene in Vietnam was already crowded. I held a different view, a conviction that I still hold today,” he said. 

“With years of prior living, studying and working in Korea, Singapore and Europe, I was convinced that the quality of products and services provided by Vietnamese local brands were only at entry level. There was definitely room for improvement; thus, anyone who improved should win. We have been operating Ther Gab on this basis, focusing on quality while selling at an affordable price.”

The handbag label started with just VND150 million (US$6000) in seed money. A year later, its monthly revenue surpassed VND1 billion ($40,000) and has continued to grow steadily ever since.

“This is not a significant figure, but it warrants that our strategy is right and Ther Gab is on the right track,” Nguyen said. 

The co-founder said one of the key factors driving the brand’s success is its focus on putting digitalisation at the core of its operation. This extends to its creative content.

“Well-coordinated social media campaigns can rapidly turn online enjoyment into purchasing decisions by our target segment, which is Gen Z buyers. Other aspects of the operation must also be well-coordinated,” he said, adding that there must be an alignment between content, production and customer service to ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction and to minimise the waste of marketing resources. 

“Imagine our customers watch good content by influencers about a particular product, only to come to our e-commerce shops to find out that such a product is not available – this is an instance of terrible customer experience that we must prevent,” Nguyen said. 

Despite its rapid growth and high demand from customers, Ther Gab has not yet opened a brick-and-mortar store. 

“In our view, e-commerce platforms are already doing a good job as the point of sale with minimum cost for sellers. We believe that unless the physical store experience is truly excellent, there is no reason to open them,” Nguyen explained. 

However, the brand is now looking into opening pop-up stores to further engage with its customers, starting in Hanoi next month. 

“When we see that we can meet the higher standards, we will establish a permanent store with changing seasonal concepts to entertain our customers.”

Nguyen said another key factor contributing to the brand’s growth is its management team’s deep international experience, which helped Ther Gab win a flagship collaboration with Singaporean bag distributor Sift & Pick.  

The brand has also collaborated with cider company Strongbow for the limited-edition Sparkling Bag. Ther Gab is also currently in discussion with another big brand for a year-end collab.

“I learnt an important lesson while working as a global business development executive for a pharmaceutical group in Korea – they would always seek partnerships with the most prestigious local distributor before setting their foot in a new market, that way they could acquire the market insights to then set up an effective operation for themselves,” Nguyen said. 

“That was also what we did in Singapore by partnering with Sift & Pick, and is what we are doing now in Korea. We picked Singapore and Korea due to our connections, but definitely will look to expand the horizon in the future.”

Looking ahead, the co-founder said the team is building the brand into a legacy business.

“I have a comprehensive view and to a certain extent, an uncommon view about running a business. To me this is not only about providing quality products and services to customers; it’s also about creating jobs, nurturing a healthy working environment for employees and improving the business practice in general,” Nguyen said. 

“Albeit being a co-founder, I do not see myself as an owner but rather a custodian of Ther Gab. I am doing my best to build it and when the time comes, the next generation, whoever is qualified, will continue this mission.”

• Further reading, LA-based Astoud brings Vietnamese fashion labels closer to US customers.

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