s or fiscal years. He talks in generations. “Royal Selangor started in 1885, when my great-grandfather came from Southern China to Malaya. At that time, a lot of Chinese were coming to this region to work in tin mines,” Yue shared at the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Big Show Asia Pacific in Singapore. “He came with his pewter crafting skills together with his brothers, and he started crafting things for the early Chinese settlers: altar pieces.” Today, the Royal Selangor product catalogue spans everything from wine accessories to Pop Mart collectibles, chess sets and even Disney collaborations. And while the company has embraced a broader design language, the underlying ethos of craftsmanship rooted in pewter remains its anchor. Local roots, global resonance The story of Royal Selangor is not just about the material. It is also about adaptability across time, place and culture. Since the 1970s, the brand has expanded steadily, first into Australia, then Japan, the UK, China and most recently, the Middle East. Each market, says Yue, brings its own set of expectations and cultural reference points. “As we expanded, we found that there were differences across markets. For example, if the culture in England is to give a Christian gift to a baby, we found that there were products that we could develop, such as baby mugs. In China, we developed tea items; in Australia, wine accessories. We want to make sure we’re relevant to different lifestyles,” Yue said.  Reinventing the legacy There’s always a risk of alienating core customers when pushing too far into the new. But Yue argues that such fears are often misplaced.  “All our items are still crafted by our team in our factory in Malaysia. This gives us ample scope to explore different areas. Whether we’re creating traditional products like tea sets or collaborating with Pop Mart on a larger version of Mega Molly, these diverse directions remain firmly rooted in pewter craftsmanship,” he said.  “It’s particularly rewarding to surprise our customers, doing something unexpected or collaborating with brands they’d never imagine us working with. That’s how we keep things fresh and engaging while introducing this material to a new generation of customers. We believe this approach is essential.”  According to the executive, while some collaborations will take the brand to new customers, others are about reinforcing the brand’s position.  “As far as how we manage how much is too much, how much is too far away, we do make a conscious effort to tell that consistent brand story through some very natural collaborations. So if we do something with the British Museum or the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, this sort of collaboration really reinforces the heritage positioning,” Yue explained.  “I don’t think you have a choice as a brand today. You do have to reach new customers. It’s getting much harder to do it purely on our own, and that’s why collaborations really do help as connectors.” No single playbook Despite its global scale, Royal Selangor resists the idea of a universal market-entry template. “We understand that to really grow a market, there are many different ways,” Yue said, adding that while the company likes to have a physical store where possible, in the UK, it relies mostly on wholesale. Meanwhile, in China, e-commerce has been the growth driver. “It’s difficult to say there’s a standard playbook. I wish it were that easy. I think we have to be much more flexible,” he said.  That said, Royal Selangor was one of the first Southeast Asian heritage brands to embrace e-commerce, launching its website in the early 2000s. The company now uses a blend of direct digital channels, third-party platforms and brand collaborations to reach fragmented audiences. Balancing global appeal with local relevance As Royal Selangor navigates its global expansion, the company has discovered that success lies in striking the right balance between universal appeal and local cultural resonance. This delicate equilibrium requires both market intelligence and cultural sensitivity, something the brand has refined through decades of international experience. “Globalisation is a trend that simplifies things for us, because the products that we develop in these categories can fit in London, New York, Shanghai or Singapore. But on the other hand, there’s another interesting trend, which is that people are also getting prouder and prouder of their own local culture. And because we take a lot of inspiration in design from culture, from heritage, we find that a lot of consumers are taking pride in their local culture.” In the Middle East, Royal Selangor initially assumed that Islamic architectural motifs would have broad appeal until it learned that Saudi consumers increasingly wanted items that referenced Saudi heritage specifically. “Those nuances were unexpected, and it’s something that you only really discover once you go into the market, because those initial assumptions of commonalities could be out the window,” he said.  Southeast Asia-based brand exporter Royal Selangor’s global presence makes it a rare example of a Southeast Asian heritage brand that has successfully expanded internationally. Yue believes it won’t remain the exception for long. “It’s much easier to take a brand across markets because of access through not just opening your own retail stores, but e-commerce, social media, marketing. Brands can really scale in ways that would have been much harder 20-30 years ago, where it was really just about putting up some shelves,” Yue said.  Southeast Asian brands, he argues, have a roadmap in countries like China, which have evolved from global manufacturing hubs to exporters of cultural capital. “The fact that consumers globally are coming closer together in terms of lifestyle, in terms of your favourite characters, that provides brands from this region to really go abroad,” he added.  Further reading: How Alfamart became Southeast Asia’s quiet retail giant.