Drumroll, please! We’ve just unveiled Asia’s most influential list at Inside Retail Asia, a collection of the region’s changemakers, rulebreakers and innovators. Today, we profile Dione Song, the first CEO of Southeast Asian cult womenswear label, Love, Bonito. In contrast to the majority of retailers heavily impacted by Covid-19’s disruption across Asia last year, omnichannel fashion retailer Love, Bonito had a blast. Besides experiencing solid sales growth, it secured US$50 million i
n in Series C funding and added three female executives to its management team to speed up its international expansion, especially in East Asia.
Dione Song joined the company in 2018 as a chief commercial officer and became Love, Bonito’s first CEO last year.
“We have yet to see a womenswear brand from the region stand proud on the world stage amongst industry heavyweights and we want to be the first brand to achieve that, by being purpose-driven, community-focused and innovative,” Song said.
Under her leadership, Love, Bonito has evolved outside its core fashion business, to create a female ecosystem with content platforms and wellness categories for women, such as LBCommunity+ and LBCreate.
As of last October, Love, Bonito had achieved overall growth of more than 120 per cent in international markets and overall growth of 208 per cent for its online sales. To Song, when it comes to handling the pandemic, it boils down to two key things at the end of the day – rethinking the channel mix and assortment.
“I think it’s important for all retailers to really think about your omnichannel strategy. It’s not a buzzword anymore, it is survival,” she told a Marketing Pulse conference.
Since its inception in 2012, Love, Bonito has expanded into 10 core markets, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, and the US.
Away from Love, Bonito, Song joined the board of Ramblin’ Brands as a non-executive director last June. Launched to develop premium skincare and health products, Ramblin’s first brand is the range of sexual wellbeing products sold under the Smile Makers label.
