Home-grown fashion label The Closet Lover winds up after 17 years due to co-founder’s health issues

SINGAPORE – Local fashion label The Closet Lover (TCL) will be shuttering after 17 years due to the deteriorating health of owner Brianna Wong, but her co-founder sister is not ruling out a comeback.

Ms Bertilla Wong, 35, told The Straits Times on May 3 that her sister’s health took a turn for the worse in February during her two-week visit to South Korea.

“She experienced very high blood pressure. Her legs and limbs were extremely swollen, and she even had difficulty breathing at times such that she had to visit the doctor twice while she was in Seoul,” said Ms Wong.

Ms Brianna Wong, 39, who was previously diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus, commonly referred to as lupus, was warded when she returned to Singapore.

Lupus is an autoimmune condition where the body’s immune system attacks the healthy tissues and organs.

The Lupus Foundation of America estimates that at least five million people worldwide have a form of lupus, and women make up the majority of such patients. Scientists suspect that sex hormones play a part.

Symptoms associated with the condition include joint pain, fatigue and a butterfly rash that appears across the cheeks and nose.

Ms Bertilla Wong said the doctor informed her older sister that her kidney and heart were inflamed due to the stress she was facing and advised her to prioritise her health.

“When I heard that, I was very worried and persuaded her to end the business first to recuperate because I want her to live,” said Ms Bertilla Wong.

TCL, which started as an online blogshop in 2007, will close its doors on June 15. Until then, the fashion label, which has 137,000 followers on Instagram and 13,400 followers on TikTok, will continue with its weekly live streams and launches.

The brand’s final act before bowing out will be on May 25: the launch of a collaboration with an international brand that Ms Bertilla Wong declines to reveal more about.

Fortunately for Ms Wong, who was also diagnosed with the same condition as her older sister, she is in a much better place today.

“My last flare-up was many years ago. I get joint pain occasionally when I’m stressed out, but other than that, my organs are intact and fine,” she said, adding that she has been helming the business for the last few months while her sister recuperates.

When asked if she had thought of selling the fashion brand, Ms Wong said they considered that option, but eventually decided against it.

She explained that the brand and sales are tied to the two of them, and there “is no point” if they have to continue to help out after selling.

“The priority for us right now is to rest and recuperate from the stress of running the business and not think of anything else,” said Ms Wong.

Besides her older sister’s condition, Ms Wong acknowledges that it has not been an easy journey running TCL, whose annual revenue she says is under $10 million, in the post-Covid-19 times.

At one point, the company owned four retail outlets in Singapore. Overseas, it operated two stores in Malaysia and had two franchise stores in Cambodia before they closed down in 2021 and 2024 respectively.

There are currently three TCL outlets in Bugis, Orchard and Tampines.

Noting that consumers’ tastes and preferences have evolved after the pandemic, Ms Wong said people were thinking twice about spending money on clothes. This drove her company to put in more effort to woo customers on social media and conduct regular live streams to promote its products.

“It was very tiring for myself, my older sister and my employees. The situation got really bad during the recent Chinese New Year launches where we live-streamed six days a week to showcase our new products,” she said.

“We also had to cut some of our retail leases previously as well, so there were definitely some financial losses. But, ultimately, even if the business was doing super well, we wouldn’t have been able to keep it going if we were to run it at the expense of our health.”

On their future plans, Ms Wong said she will continue to live stream for TikTok, as well as promote health and wellness products for a local brand on social media, while her sister continues to recuperate.

But she does not rule out a comeback for TCL in the future.

“My sister is still very interested in fashion and when she gets better, she may still come up with something on a smaller scale, something more manageable that will not affect her health,” said Ms Wong, adding that her older sister will still appear on her TikTok live streams from time to time.

Beyond that, Ms Wong said the siblings are extremely grateful to the people they have met – suppliers, friends, collaborators and customers – since they embarked on this enterprise.

“We are thankful for their support all these years and especially so for our employees, who have been very understanding about the situation as we try to help them to transit smoothly during this difficult period.”

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