Inspired by Hong Kong and Asia’s maritime history, Māzŭ allies West to East culture and quickly settles in the Asian swimwear industry.
Māzŭ Resortwear is a Hong Kong based luxury men swimwear brand founded in 2015 by Adam Raby. The company was built upon the concept of transmitting the Asian maritime heritage to its customers. Its name, Māzŭ, stands for the goddess of the sea in Chinese, a figure which is often represented in Hong Kong temples situated by the sea. Moreover, it is no surprise for the brand’s founder that “Hong Kong has an intimate relationship with the water, as it is called Perfumed Harbour in Chinese”.
According to Raby, “the typical Māzŭ customer would be someone who essentially cares about fashion, conscious about what he wears to look good by the pool, on its yacht or by the beach”. He defines his company as a swimwear fashion brand and distinguishes it from a functional swimwear brand.
Going back to its debuts, the company was financially settled by a friend who injected small capitals. Today, in perspective of taking the business to a new level to better impact the market, Māzŭ is looking to raise more funds. Currently having 23 points of sale opened across Asia, the brand plans to increase its numbers up to 55 points of sale by the end of 2018.
In order to deliver 2 collections a year; the summer collection in April and the cruise collection in November, Māzŭ tries to stay aligned with its customers’ constant needs. According to its founder, there is a shift now; “people want to look good by the water instead of being functional in the water”. Hence, his role is “all about making them feel comfortable, confident and inspired while wearing a swimwear”.
From a marketing and advertising background, Raby thinks that branding is the key to success. So as to reinforce the brand’s image, it was also important for the founder to make sure that a Hong Kong fashion business would be manufactured in China, hence stating: “I have to believe where we are from”. For him, China is operating a shift in its manufacturing quality process, meaning that efforts are made with the help of “better workers with better skills”, to produce better quality garments.
This philosophy has thus led Māzŭ to grow within Asia year after year, plans to develop the brand regionally and to develop new categories of products in the future. As Raby says, “the idea is that if a gentleman from Asia is looking to go on holidays to get some sun, I would like to be that one stop solution where the Māzŭ customer could go into our shop and buy anything he needs to go on a summer, beach or luxury yacht holidays.”