e-Paper
V.K. SANTOSH KUMAR
Hi Life Exhibition’s managing director and CEO Aby Dominic regularly organises luxury expos in 35 cities across India. He is now making a bid to take his Mumbai-based brand to Asian countries and other places in the world.
On April 13 and 14, he brought the Hi Life dress and jewellery exhibition to Singapore. The event at Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre saw more than 50 vendors from India showcase their unique creations. People appeared to like it.
“We have been doing exhibitions in Colombo, Bangkok, Durban, Johannesburg and Mauritius for a while,” Mr Dominic told tabla! “We then decided why not test the Singapore market. I must say that after our first outing here, the response has been good.”
Hi Life presented a mix of designers and vendors from all over India who mostly featured wedding and ethnic wear along with matching jewellery.
There were dresses and custom-made accessories from places such as Jaipur, Delhi Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai which are usually not available in Singapore.
“People attending big weddings these days prefer to wear ethnic clothes,” said Mr Dominic. “They usually have to go to India to buy. Our aim was to cater to their needs by flying in items they would require. By the sales we had, people here certainly liked our range.”
Hi Life featured the spring-summer collections, which are trending in India. So, people here got to buy items which were recently launched in Delhi and Mumbai.
“It was all the latest stuff,” said office assistant Kiran Kaur, 36, who shopped along with her mother and aunts. “The prices were affordable, and we got to choose from a wide range.”
For homemaker Anuradha Pandey, 45, the highlight was that the vendors were very specific. “The fabrics were very different and of premium quality,” she said.
Singapore-based fashion enthusiast and innovator Sunitha Reddy, who runs events company Prad and partnered Hi Life to organise the exhibition, said “it was a great experience to work with professionals”.
“This is the biggest event I have done, and I enjoyed it,” she said. “I had seen High Life exhibitions in Hyderabad before and wanted to bring those fashions to Singapore so that women here can find suitable outfits for their events, celebrations and ceremonies.
“People were excited because High Life is a new brand in Singapore. They wanted to see what we had to offer. I think they really appreciated what we did and wanted to know when we would be back.”
Mr Dominic said Hi Life will be back with a bigger exhibition later this year.
“We will going to Mauritius in July and then the UK,” he said. “After that, we will do it in Singapore.”
