21YO S’porean Shares How He Became an Entrepreneur; It All Started From Selling on Carousell

We often hear people advising us to turn our hobbies into a side hustle to earn extra cash.

But how many of us actually heed that advice?

And is it actually possible to turn your passion into a means to earn income?

For the founder of the local second-hand clothing shop Honsieponsie, it is most definitely possible.

Read on to find out how the enterprising young man started his very own clothing shop even before he started his university studies.

Thrift Shop Honsieponsie Was Born From a Hobby of Thrifting

The homegrown thrift shop brand Honsieponsie is the brainchild of 21-year-old founder Mr Hon Liang Lung.

The young man started his thrifting business while still serving the nation.

This is his story.

In a TikTok post made earlier this week on the account @Honsieponsie, Mr Hon shares that his love for thrifting dates back to 2019. He also made his first haul across the Causeway.

Since then, he started to grow his thrifting experience while overseas. This was with the support of his parents, as one of the slides in his post shows his mother carrying an outrageously oversized backpack at what appears to be a thrifting hub, smiling widely for the camera.

Thereafter, Mr Hon toyed with the idea of buying pre-loved items and selling them.

He made it his mission to explore Singapore’s second-hand buying and selling scene.

As Mr Hon continued his thrifting passion within the island, he found some excellent spoils. This included an authentic Gucci bag. A real score!

Mr Hon’s introductory step into the business of dealing with second-hand goods was through the local platform Carousell. Carousell is a marketplace for consumers and businesses to buy and sell new or used items.

He started by selling the unwanted clothes from his parents. In one of the slides in the video, Mr Hon posts a picture of an old t-shirt he was selling, with a few plants at the side to beautify the picture and make it more attractive to viewers.

Soon after, Mr Hon realised that selling on Instagram would be more lucrative than selling on Carousell. He shared in his video that it was easier to connect with people from the community on the social media platform focused on image sharing.

Hence, Mr Hon pivoted away from Carousell and set his sights on the social media platform to grow his business.

Some helpful tips from a sunbaemin (senior in Korean) if you’re planning to start a consumer-focused business!

As Mr Hon became increasingly proficient at running his second-hand sale of goods business, he did not become complacent. Learning how to improve himself and constantly better himself was crucial.

He also tried dabbling in the upcycling scene by making some bucket hats out of second-hand material.

All these efforts took up a substantial amount of time, with Mr Hon dedicating the bulk of his book-out weekends to the Honsieponsie initiative.

Mr Hon’s efforts eventually paid off, as he was eventually noticed by the “og” (used to describe the “original” person in a particular field) account in this industry @justojusto__, much to his delight.

As time passed, Honsieponsie had the opportunity to meet its consumers in a face-to-face pop-up shop.

The pop-up went well, and Mr Hon sold more items than he had expected. He mentions that each sale was a person contributing to his dream. Very heart-warming indeed.

After a first taste of having a brick-and-mortar store, Mr Hon could not get the idea out of his mind. On the one hand, he was afraid of the challenges that running a business would entail, given his lack of experience in the area. On the other hand, he knew “deep down” that opening a physical store was where his real passions lay.

Upon completing his mandatory national service, Mr Hon had eight months to deliberate on the next steps for Honsieponsie. He eventually decided to go all out and “just do it”, an aspect which stems from his “do more think less” mindset.

After some location shopping, Mr Hon decided on a shop in Queensway Shopping Centre, unit #02-40A. Once the location was settled, Mr Hon began preparations for the official store opening and the official physical shop for Honsieponsie was born soon after.

From there, Honsieponsie’s trajectory continued in a positive direction. Mr Hon embarked on several projects, including rescuing bales of clothes from Japan. He also a collaboration with another thrift-focused shop, Tryftshop, which is run by a pair of sisters.

However, not all is rosy and good in the industry. Mr Hon shared in his post that he had previously purchased a “bad bale” at a high price. This contributed to the “tough times, slow days and lonely moments” he experienced as part of his entrepreneurial journey.

Nonetheless, Mr Hon hung on to his passion and preserved through the tough times. Sure enough, the dark clouds gave way to a clearer sky, and things became better for Mr Hon.

As Mr Hon continued to pursue his studies, starting his undergraduate degree, his mother stepped in to help him manage Honsieponsie for some time. After the adjustment period, Mr Hon continued his start-up, juggling his studies and main hustle.

There were even instances where Mr Hon did photoshoots on the school grounds, blending his main focuses at that time.

Towards the end of the video, Mr Hon labels his experience as “amazing” and proclaims that he would not trade anything for the experience. He also encourages and urges the viewers to chase their dreams and “just go for it”. You never know when you will succeed.

Finally, the video closes off with a heartfelt thank you message to all the Honsieponsie supporters with a teaser for things to come.

Honsieponsie is Moving Out

One of the exciting new developments for Honsieponsie must definitely be their relocation.

On the official Instagram account of Honsieponsie, a post announces to followers that the shop will be moving out from its Queensway Shopping Centre location to a location to be announced.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by HONSIEPONSIE (@honsieponsie)

In celebration of this move, the shop offered a discount on its items. All items would go for S$10 each over this weekend. The last day of the sale was 7 May 2023, from 12.30 pm to 7.30 pm.

While the new location has not been announced yet, the post teased a “bigger and better space”.

So, all Honsieponsie fans, keep a lookout for the up-and-coming new location to satisfy your thrift steal urges!

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Thrift Shopping in Singapore

While thrifting in Singapore may be a relatively niche area, it is undoubtedly a space to watch as the interest in thrifting grows slowly but surely.

Apart from Honsieponsie, here are some other notable stores to know if you want to get into the thrifting scene.

Tryftshop is one of the names. Previously mentioned in this article as it had a collaboration with Honsieponsie, this shop sells second-hand clothes for a good cause. The family-run business donates a portion of their earnings to communities in need.

The family started the enterprise in 2021, where they bought 40 bales of clothes weighing 250kg each from a recycling centre in Japan. From there, they sorted the goods by hand into four different categories.

The first was commercially viable clothes; the next was for pieces which were of good condition but less trendy; the third was for damaged and stained items, while the last was reserved for rejects—those which would not be able to be sold (such as underwear).

Clothes from the first pile are typically the ones sold by Tryftshop.

Another name to note is Function Five, a thrift shop on Arab Street. Here, you can gain access to second-hand clothes for a budget amount ranging from $5 to $15 in general. If you’re lucky, you may even find some clothes which are being given away for free if they are labelled as such.

This store was named after the F5 key on a keyboard, which is the button for a “refresh” of a page. Similar to its namesake, the founders of Function Five wanted to “refresh” unwanted clothing and give them a new lease of life.

Function Five sources its clothes from textile factories and landfills from around the region, including Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia. A surefire way to get access to a range of styles from many different countries.