ABOUT
Featuring sophisticated silhouettes and vibrant prints, The Tangerine Road is inspired by the ancient silk road connecting cultures and countries from Europe and Asia, and the brightly coloured tangerines gifted during Lunar New Year. Co-founders Paola and Sofia are both Italian and bring a flair for tailoring and a discerning eye for quality to the table.
IMPACT
People
Instead of outsourcing their production to a large factory, The Tangerine Road works with a team of skilled tailors in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Over the years, their partnership has blossomed based on mutual respect and support. Working with a tailor on a small scale allows them to be more flexible, they can offer alterations and not overproduce.
Product
Believing in using quality, pure raw materials, they source pure silk, linen and cotton to produce the fine garments made to last. Their fabric suppliers are small local retailers in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Jaipur and Myanmar that the founders have met during their travels. Instead of printing their own artwork on any new fabric, the brand uses end of roll (also called dead stock) printed fabrics. This is crucial to keep the business sustainable by minimising any extra digital printing of the fabric. It also means their capsule collections are small-batch produced, exclusive and special.
Packaging
The Tangerine Road doesn’t use any plastic in their packaging, and also has asked their tailors to reduce and reuse plastic sacks when shipping new collections. They’re currently working on a new project with reusable fabric packaging.
Planet
As a female founded business, The Tangerine Road is very socially engaged to support other women in need. The founders often collaborate with local charities and social enterprises, including organisations like the Italian Women Association in Hong Kong and Singapore to address specific social issues. Prioritising their planetary impact, the team has adopted a zero waste approach to make sure each piece of leftover fabric is reused to create accessories like silk pouches and hairbands. They’re currently developing a new project that will allow them to re-use even a tiny piece of fabric as small as 3×3 cm while supporting local women social enterprises.
Principles
As a niche fashion brand, The Tangerine Road embraces a gentle approach to consumer behaviour. They want to harness a friendly relationship with their customers, filled with trust and loyalty.
