From KL to K-pop: How Malaysian fashion label Joe Chia won over S.Coups, Felix and other global stars

There are no investors behind Joe Chia. No celebrity creative director. No splashy campaigns or hype cycles. Just a Kuala Lumpur-based label that has, over 13 years, built one of the most compelling businesses in independent Asian fashion – stocked across 20 countries, and worn by a growing list of global tastemakers – including K-pop stars S.Coups of Seventeen and Felix from Stray Kids.

Not bad for a label that began in 2012 with a single rack of clothes at Malaysian fashion stylist Victor Goh’s Bangsar boutique and a tiny studio in Pudu. Back then, designer Joe Chia was in his mid-twenties, fresh from Singapore’s Raffles Design Institute, cutting and sewing everything himself, often through the night. Melissa Deng, his partner in business and life, joined him from the very beginning, taking on the brand’s operations.

They recall those early days with almost cinematic clarity: long nights packing orders by hand, sleeping on rolls of fabric, the smell of fried chicken drifting up from the mamak place (selling Indian Muslim food) downstairs at dawn. The dim stairwell leading to their small studio. And the morning they arrived to find it broken into – laptops, camera equipment, and cash gone.

“It took some time to recover from that, both financially and mentally,” said Deng. “But it taught us to be more aware and to just keep going.”

What they lacked in capital, they made up for in rigour: sharp tailoring, experimental proportions, natural fibres, and a monochrome sensibility that nodded to Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garcons but felt distinctly their own.

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

Chia’s design language is shaped by various places. The 38-year-old grew up in Kelantan, an agrarian state of paddy fields and fishing villages. “There weren’t magazines or fashion stores. I learned by touching things, by trying on second-hand clothes, by watching how fabric fell on the body. It taught me to trust instinct more than instruction,” he said. 

Singapore, where he studied fashion at Raffles Design Institute, “introduced a kind of structure – the discipline and language of design.”

Paris widened the lens. For the past eight years, the duo has worked closely with Boon, the Parisian fashion and art showroom, to present their menswear during Fashion Week and meet buyers from around the world. Their partnership also opened the doors to the iconic department store Printemps in Paris, where Boon launched its first retail concept in March – with Joe Chia included in the curated lineup.

Holding these different worlds at once is what shapes Chia’s work. That duality – tactility and refinement, restraint and experimentation – underpins the brand’s aesthetic. “Wearable avant-garde” is a description often attached to their designs, though Chia says it wasn’t intentional. 

“A lot of it came from solving questions about cut and structure. In searching for the answers, the garments naturally took on that experimental spirit people associate with the avant-garde,” he said.

For him, wearability is emotional as much as functional. “We’re drawn to natural fibres because they hold memory. They change with time, absorb warmth, and carry traces of life. Garments that live quietly with the wearer, that move through seasons and moments – that is the essence of Joe Chia.”

BUILDING WITHOUT COMPROMISE

Today, the label remains fully independent. Deng, 34, oversees budgets, logistics, stockist relationships, and communication. Chia continues to lead the creative direction, inspecting every drape and fold. Their sampling team is just four people, all long-time collaborators.

“Growing organically means moving at a pace we can sustain, even if it’s slower. There have been many moments where we had to reshape ideas to fit within realistic budgets, so growth has naturally been more gradual,” said Deng. 

“Scaling requires an ecosystem beyond creating clothes. Coming from design backgrounds, we’ve had to learn to build a brand and company from the ground up, stepping into roles we were never trained for.”

Their stockists chart the map of a slow but steady rise. The brand sits alongside avant-garde stalwarts at some of the world’s most discerning boutiques and department stores: Printemps in Paris, Stijl in Brussels, Ttaggg in Tokyo, and Labelhood in Shanghai. For an indie label with no PR machine or celebrity backers, landing in these fashion capitals is proof that the work carries its own weight.

“Our first international stockist was Immense in Taipei. They found us through Facebook in 2012 [after our debut collection]. We're grateful that after almost 14 years, we’re still working together,” shared Deng.

A pivotal moment came at a Milan trade show, which led to their first European, British, and American stockists. Paris opened even more doors – each season adding a new boutique, a new country, a new believer. From Europe, the brand’s footprint widened to Japan, South Korea, and China.

In 2023, they opened a multi-storey atelier in Kuala Lumpur with distinct zones for retail, R&D, archives and living quarters. “As the brand grew, we wanted a space that felt kind to us too,” shared Deng. 

“We spend so much of our lives here, so it felt important to create an environment that not only fuels creativity but also restores us – a place that quietly takes care of the people who build it every day.”

ON PARTNERSHIP, PARENTHOOD AND LEGACY

Working together for over a decade – and now raising their two-year-old daughter Roa – has reshaped their understanding of partnership.

“Life and work have become so intertwined that it’s almost impossible to separate one from the other,” said Chia. “Partnership teaches you patience, empathy, and the humility to see from another point of view.”

Deng is pragmatic about disagreements. “It’s okay to agree to disagree, so long as there’s respect. Most of the time, we’re tackling the same issue, just from different angles.”

Parenthood, they say, has recalibrated their sense of legacy. “What we hope to leave her isn’t a name or an empire, but a sense of freedom,” said Chia.

Deng adds: “I used to be like a racehorse with tunnel vision. Becoming a mum has widened that view. It reminded me that life is about living, feeling, and finding happiness in the simplest moments.”

Their upcoming kidswear line carries that sentiment. “Joe made our wedding suit and gown, and we made both our sisters’ wedding dresses too,” she said. 

“Clothes accompany us through many important moments in life. Naturally, we wanted to create something beautiful for our daughter, something seen through our eyes."

THE NEWEST CHAPTER

Each Joe Chia collection is known as a “chapter”, and the latest – Chapter 26: Routes Remembered – is rooted in memory, geography, and the quiet terrain of personal history.

“It revisits the paths we’ve taken, from humid hometown streets to forgotten racing circuits,” shared Chia. For Spring/Summer 2026, he’s been thinking about summer not as a season but “a state of warmth, movement, and renewal”.

The collection also includes a collaboration with Chair, a Malaysian multidisciplinary artist and tattooist. Their distinct hand strokes informed the brass accessories – Ultraman figurines, dinosaurs, monkeys – inspired by childhood trinkets and Thai Buddha amulet culture. The latter is also a nod to Chia’s Kelantanese upbringing near the Thai border. “It’s a reminder that memory isn’t only carried in the mind, but also worn, like an amulet, close to the skin.”

A GLOBAL FOLLOWING

The brand’s international reach continues to grow, with pieces worn by Japanese dancer and actress Aoi Yamada, Taiwanese-American star Vanness Wu, Dutch DJ duo Showtek, and an expanding roster of K-pop names including Felix, S.Coups, and WayV’s Winwin.

The K-pop attention, in particular, still surprises them. “We honestly don’t quite know how it happened,” admitted Chia, though he believes the pieces reached stylists through South Korean stockists. The impact, however, is tangible – introducing the brand to a new generation drawn to its sculptural rigour and understated luxury.

“As creators, it’s meaningful to see our work connect with other artists,” he said. “It gives a small sense of reassurance that we’ve made something good.”

Their perennial bestsellers are the basics – clean-cut tees, structured shirts, and trousers. The founders note that these tend to be the first touchpoint for new customers before they venture into the more experimental silhouettes. Prices typically start from around US$170/S$220 for a t-shirt and US$340/S$440 for pants.

WHAT’S NEXT

The roadmap is characteristically measured: Womenswear and kidswear are in development, alongside a refined retail experience in Malaysia and expanded private atelier programs. There’s talk of bringing the brand to Singapore. “It’s a city that has always been close to our journey,” said Chia.

When asked what he hopes people feel when they encounter Joe Chia, his answer is strikingly simple: “I hope people feel that they were thought about.”

For an independent Malaysian label that began with a single rack sewn by hand, that may be the most ambitious statement yet.

Joe Chia is available online.