The proudly Asian brand’s Causeway Bay store is a 1960s-inspired tribute to the women of Hong Kong, filled with nostalgia-infused scents
Since 2018, fragrance brand To Summer has gradually transcended its mainland Chinese origins to become one of the hottest up-and-coming names on the market globally. Rather than purporting to bridge East and West, its signature scents and gorgeous retail stores are proudly Asian, bearing an innate and distinctive cultural authenticity that has proven to be a strong formula for success. From WeChat to TikTok, the brand took off on social media and is now continuing that rapid expansion with its first overseas store in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay. We speak to co-founder Shen Li about To Summer’s astronomical rise to aromatic fame.
What’s the significance of your first store in Hong Kong and how are you approaching business here differently from the mainland?
The mainland Chinese market is actually quite different. Chinese culture and Eastern aesthetics were already prominent there maybe around five years ago, earlier than the Hong Kong market. And working in the media back then, we perhaps perceived that resurgence in Eastern culture even sooner than the commercial market.
