Jessie Wong is the founder of the luxury leather goods brand Yu Mei, based in Wellington but with three flagship stores in the capital and Auckland, and stockists across Australasia.

Earlier this year, she was awarded the Women of Influence Business Enterprise Award, acknowledged by the judges for her business nous and ability to convey “wisdom, presence and inspiration to women of all ages”. 

Jessie generously shares some of the lessons on the business of fashion that she has taken on board since launching her brand in 2015 - we think they’re relevant for those with their own businesses, at all stages, or just life in general.‍

My company Yu Mei is almost seven years old - we’re no longer a toddler figuring out how to walk, but a kid ready to run. What I’ve learnt over the past seven years is that while business can be challenging, it’s also a whole lot of fun. 

I started Yu Mei because I couldn’t find a bag that carried everything I needed in a day - phone, laptop, study notes, makeup bag, A3 visual diary, the kitchen sink. And it turns out a lot of people felt the same way. 

I was 21 and freshly graduated when I started the company, so it was truly a baptism by fire. I wouldn’t recommend that route for everyone, as there’s a lot to be gained from going and getting experience first - I’m sure I could have built Yu Mei faster had I done that. But I wouldn’t change a thing about my journey. 

In the beginning, I made bags on a trestle table in south Dunedin, and at one particularly chaotic stage, stayed up for four days and three nights to finish production on one of our first collections with Adrian - then our production manager, now our head of design. Although this sounds nightmarish, it was one of the most fun, exhilarating times in my life: mucking in to get the job done, even - especially - when you don’t know where things will end up.

We’ve grown a lot since those fateful all-nighters, but having a more firmly cemented business brings its own set of challenges, from opening retail stores in a pandemic, to figuring out who we are as a brand and what we want to present to the world. But they’ve all just been small, crucial steps to lead us to where we are today. And it’s only really the beginning.

Here are a few lessons from my (relatively) short time in business…‍

Lesson one: “Running a business is going from problem to problem with complete optimism” - A very wise person on a podcast

‍A couple of years ago our tannery closed down, and it was one of the saddest and most challenging things that had happened to us as a business. I really felt for all of the team we’d worked so closely with.

The leather we primarily work with is South Island-farmed deer nappa - a byproduct of the venison industry in New Zealand. Deer are particularly exceptional because they have a low ecological footprint, and produce buttery soft, world class leather. To hear that our one source of this leather was closing was the worst thing I could think of, I didn’t know what we would do or how we could overcome the situation.

We doubled down on our luck and bought everything we could from the closing tannery - a big outlay and investment that turned out to be one of the biggest success factors when Covid hit. It meant we had supply throughout the pandemic, and bought ourselves a two year window to find a new tannery.

We travelled for months to meet with tanneries all over the world - Italy, France, Japan, China and the USA. It took a while to find a solution, and by the end of the year I was exhausted, but when 2020 rolled around and all travel was cancelled, I was extremely happy and relieved we hadn’t wasted any time finding a solution.

I guess the moral of the story is to always prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and know that in the end, there’s always a solution if you’re persistent enough.‍

Lesson two: “It’s one in a million, but if it’s going to be anyone, there's no reason why it can’t be you” - My mum

I always thought this was such a brave thing for my mum to say, and it was completely true. Many limitations are self-imposed, but there's often no reason why it can’t be you. Bold moves have always helped us out when things haven’t been going to plan, and I do think you just have to look for the opportunity.

For example, pandemic lockdowns really hit our retail stores hard but were also a brilliant time for us to grow our digital audience and connect with our community. During the first lockdown in 2020, we hosted a digital event that 11,000 people showed up to. We were blown away. It was clear what we needed to do next, and Club Yu Mei - a framework for this community of people, and a way for them to interact with the brand - was born.

That said, we also opened retail stores during the pandemic, which some would say wasn’t the smartest thing to do. But our Yu Mei lounges have become a place for us to connect with our customers, and have grown our business even through the most challenging of times. So we did it anyway, trusting that it would pay off in the long run.

Lesson three: “Turn off the tap of ideas” - My university lecturer, Simon Swale.

It was hard for me to refine my ideas at uni - I wanted to cram every concept I could into my collections. This piece of feedback came from my graduation envelope with my degree, and I took it very seriously. 

Since then, Yu Mei has stuck to a framework of principles that it hasn’t wavered from: offering high quality and long-lasting products, considering regenerative utility, adhering to a stealth sense of luxury, and working towards a circular economy, so our products can ultimately be returned to the land they came from. I think this has fed into the way that we structure everything we’re trying to build.

We’re also often inspired by art in our collections, for colour palettes and concepts. So we always take a step back and consider what we’ve done, and how it fits into the bigger picture, like an artist. Be thoughtful, purposeful and succinct.

The same applies to your strategy. At Yu Mei, we figure out where we’re going on a big scale, then break it down into small, aligned and achievable pieces for each individual team member - meaning we’re all swimming in the same direction, but are able to be flexible if the wind changes direction.

Lesson four: “Ring the bell” - Sarah Wickens

This is a phrase that has been instilled in the team over the past couple of years - we even have a bell that Sarah [the founder of Trilogy] gave us for Christmas last year to remember to celebrate the wins. 

We have an incredible team who are as committed to achieving our goals as I am. Surround yourself with good people, especially people who genuinely want you to succeed. I appreciate the advice every time we celebrate a win - it’s important to remember these moments along the way.

Lesson five: “Be relentless” - Karen Walker

I’ve had a couple of wise women give me advice over the years, but this particular line stuck with me. Karen Walker told me this at a Christmas party in her Wellington store, when I must’ve been 18 or 19. 

It’s so true. The difference between someone who will succeed and someone who won’t is the relentless ability to keep going. This doesn’t mean “never take breaks” or “work insanely ridiculously hard 24/7” - it just means showing up every day and giving it your very best. 

It also speaks to being meticulous about every aspect of what you’re doing. If it’s not right the first time - and it often isn’t - figure out what you can do better next time round. Be relentless about your standards, and the offering you’re putting out into the world. The stitching, the detailing, the edge paint, the photography - it’s all the little things that add up to make the magic.