How did Extra Virgin become a thing?
Joi— So we saw on Depop and Instagram a lot of people selling Chinese independent designer brands, but they rarely mentioned the name of the designer and spike the prices. First of all, you should always credit the designer as opposed to selling items as if they are your own design. It should also be affordable. We’re struggling to shop for clothing because everything here is so expensive. One day, Susie had this idea — likely because she studied business in Parsons. She said to me, “Why don't we just start like a pop up? Because there are so many like pop up going on.” I feel like [pop-ups] are becoming a major part of the culture here. So we started on it pretty easily with the resources we had — access to brands and designers.
How’d you get these resources?
Joi— There's a platform in China called Red… it’s new and it’s growing really fast. It’s almost a combination of TikTok and Pinterest. People post videos, share their outfitss, their lifestyles, everything.
Is it only fashion?
Joi— Not necessarily. At first, it was pretty targeted to consumers. So people shared what they purchased and liked — their makeup, their outfits, foods. Everything is reshared by other users… and because there are so many small brands, they all try to promote it on Red.
Susie— We met on that platform and a lot of brands sent us stuff. So we became friends. And we told them our idea… trying to see if anyone was willing to help us. A lot of the designers that I initially reached out to were really interested in breaking into the international market, just because of how hard COVID hit China.