Match maker

Match Showroom and Haustage founder and brand director Maggie Lui is proof that hard work and perseverance do lead to success.

Growing up in a modest family, Lui started working after graduating from secondary five in Hong Kong while studying part-time at a night school to complete her A-levels.

She started working in merchandising out of interest, focusing on commercial gifts. But soon, she became intrigued by the reasons behind what she was helping to create.

"One day, I thought: why do these brands need gifts? Who are the gifts for? Why do the brands choose to gift these items?" she recalled.

"I was young and curious, so when I had the chance to meet the customers, I would ask questions to try and learn more."

Working with American and Canadian brands, vendors and suppliers, Lui slowly grew weary of working late nights because of the time difference. So she resigned to take a long break, rejecting job offers from friends in the industry.

But one of her suppliers gave her an offer that she could not resist: cofounding a company that focused on helping luxury brands strategize marketing campaigns for their new collections.

"I found it very interesting, as I had never thought of being a boss," she said. "And I thought that I would have to look for work after my break anyway, so why not seize the opportunity and try?"

With her traditional upbringing, Lui used to only dream of marriage and family and had never once thought that she would become an entrepreneur.

"But no matter how you plan for your life, unexpected things happen," she said. "So I just went with the flow."

After building the business up for seven years, Lui fell in love, decided to focus on her marriage and family and gave up her business. But it did not end well.

"My divorce was a big blow to me. I was very down and depressed because I had given up everything in my career. It was a dark period of my life," she recalled.

She ultimately decided to return to the workforce to support her daughter.

Lui was working as a personal assistant for a CEO in manufacturing where her experience proved to be of value.

"My boss was looking for a brand director, but it was not easy. Brand directors have a lot of their own ideas," she explained.

In the end, she was asked to give it a go due to her prior experience in branding.

While navigating the perspectives of the manufacturer and the brand director proved challenging, she was thankful to have the experience - it made her realize the difficulties that individual designer brands face.

"I said that if I were fired and had the opportunity, I really wanted to use my profession to help to maintain and position brands," she said. "It was a joke back then."

But that joke soon became serious. in the end, she resigned to start a business again.

The company, Match Showroom, which launched in 2014, unintentionally became the first showroom company in Hong Kong.

"There are a lot of young people with a lot of thoughts and ideas, and the ones with the most ideas may not be able to express themselves in a practical way," she said. "I try to use a more down-to-earth approach to understand the brand and a more practical and comprehensible way to interpret it."

In 2015, Lui was participating in a trade fair when she met the person in charge of the nascent mall The Mills, who noticed that her showroom was the first in Hong Kong while they were exchanging cards.

Lui was then invited to The Mills Pitch Day.

Coming out as one of the top eight businesses in the competition, Lui and Match Showroom were invited to join The Mills when it was established and opened in 2018.

Dipping her toes into retail and the business-to-consumer model, she aptly named her new venture The Lab.

Representing worldwide brands in Hong Kong, The Lab was a success.

"After around six months, I started to think that I should support The Lab the best that I could and not treat it like a lab experiment," she said. "So I changed its name to Haustage at the beginning of 2020."

The name Haustage stands for "the stage for heritage, art, upcycling and sustainability" and includes brands such as Dafu Feiyue and its sneakers and Chezza and its sustainable fashion-tech accessories.

It is Asia's first sustainable fashion and lifestyle design boutique. In April, Haustage opened its second shop in K11 Art Mall.

Lui also recently launched the Dafu flagship store in Mong Kok in response to the brand's growing popularity in Hong Kong.

Looking back at the challenges, hardships and tribulations in her life, Lui advised: "Have a positive attitude and be concentrated and devoted in doing everything.

"There are too many things that we can be sad about in life, and if we view everything with a negative attitude, everything would be very difficult. A positive attitude may not guarantee success, but you will be much happier."