LATEST ARTICLES

Joys of pre-loved luxury watches and the profits to be made

Joys of pre-loved luxury watches and the profits to be made

Three sleek and gleaming second-hand watches are presented on a simple tray for a customer’s perusal. Luxury, artisanal pieces, their value is astronomical – collectively worth just over $1 million and increasing by the day – elegant symbols of a world awash with Covid recovery cash with prices for prestige real estate, cars, jewels, art and …read more

Shop less and reduce, reuse and recycle this Christmas

Shop less and reduce, reuse and recycle this Christmas

A slightly marked white sofa bed; a pair of cream-coloured patent leather shoes (size 40); boxes of N95 masks; bags of peanuts in the shell (‘no expiry date, consume at your own risk’), tiny rocks for a fish tank or plant pot  – all free items recently listed on Hong Kong’s private Reduce Reuse Recycle …read more

The allure and scarcity of Rolex sports models

The allure and scarcity of Rolex sports models

A Rolex Oyster Perpetual stainless steel sports watch with a Tiffany blue dial was described in the auction catalogue as having the manufacturer’s stickers and being in “practically unworn condition”. It sold in early November for 18,900 Swiss francs (US$20,700), four times the Rolex catalogue price of a brand new watch of the same type.

6 direct-to-consumer fashion retailers that have launched IPOs in 2021, from Poshmark to Rent the Runway to Roger Federer-backed shoe brand On

6 direct-to-consumer fashion retailers that have launched IPOs in 2021, from Poshmark to Rent the Runway to Roger Federer-backed shoe brand On

Athletic wear, fashion and cosmetics have been flying out of e-commerce warehouses since the pandemic began as consumers concentrated on buying for their health and their looks, and from home. This year, several primarily direct-to-consumer online firms featuring these items have launched initial public offerings (IPOs). As both manufacturers and retailers, the brands have surged …read more

Tsunami of plastics trashing the oceans

Tsunami of plastics trashing the oceans

June Wong So-kwan picks up plastic takeaway cups and boxes, plastic bottles, and supermarket plastic wrappings and containers on her regular rubbish collection trips to Hong Kong’s beaches. “When I do beach clean-ups in Hong Kong I find a lot of these kinds of wrappers, the pre-pack containers,” she says. “This is what you can …read more

Eco-babies and the vexed generation

Eco-babies and the vexed generation

A production stage manager at a theme park, Helen Wu is in her 40s and she is both childless and a committed environmentalist. Since her wedding last year, her friends and colleagues have repeatedly asked her when she will have a baby, but her answer doesn’t change. “No,” she says. “As I grow older, more …read more

Some women just like it complicated

Some women just like it complicated

Lung Lung Thun is one of the rare breed of women watch collectors. She researches the history of individual watches. She discusses watches, she understands watches and she buys watches – often larger men’s watches with complicated mechanical movements. She recently bought her first vintage Patek Philippe – the 3970 – a wildly expensive perpetual …read more

The suit is not dead

The suit is not dead

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought Hong Kong’s world-famous tailoring industry to its knees, says Stanton Ho, co-founder of the local menswear establishment Refinery. Dressy social occasions have been lost in the dust of lock-downs and social-distancing rules. Nine-to-six office rules and dress codes have changed, perhaps forever. 

Brands heed call for sustainable changes

Brands heed call for sustainable changes

As plastics horror stories pile up, consumers across the developed world are turning away from the modern convenience of plastic bags and plastic packaging, or at least trying to avoid single-use plastic as much as they can. There have been too many dead whales found with bellies full of disposable bags, boxes and bottles; too many …read more

Hong Kong’s expanding forests

Hong Kong's expanding forests

Over the centuries, Hong Kong’s lush subtropical woodlands have been burned, accidentally and deliberately – cut down for fuel, slashed to make way for agriculture, flattened by typhoons, replanted to stabilise hillsides, cut down to make way for development, devastated by insect plagues and replanted again. Whatever happens, they keep coming back.