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Stories behind top Hong Kong brands

Our guide takes the guesswork out of getting gifts for the ultimate aesthete. Photo: YiWooo

Hong Kong

PostMag Christmas gift guide: 8 ideas for your trendiest friend

From stylish bamboo bags to limited-edition watches and, yes, a map, here are 8 thoughtful suggestions for the trendiest person on your gift list.

1 Dec 2024 - 12:45PM

Hong Kong

This week in PostMag: home-grown Christmas gifts, a ferry trip and art

30 Nov 2024 - 12:45PM

Hong Kong culture

Jet Li used an umbrella from this 139-year-old company to fight

27 Apr 2024 - 11:30AMvideocam

Hong Kong economy

Opinion | Hong Kong’s entrepreneurial spirit is alive and kicking – but needs support

Brands like Lee Kum Kee and Chow Tai Fuk reflect the city’s ability to create products that resonate on a global scale. Today, as a new breed of companies take on the challenge of appealing both locally and to customers around the world, they need a supportive ecosystem.

31 Jan 2024 - 10:35AMvideocam

Chow Shing-yuk, CEO of Lalamove, poses for a photo in Kowloon Tong in October 2017. The company now operates in 400 cities around the world. Photo: David Wong

Fashion

Casetify isn’t from the US? 4 Hong Kong brands making it big overseas

Casetify, the popular phone case brand founded by Wesley Ng, and Edison Chen’s streetwear label Clot are both big in the US, while denim brand Unspun and sneaker company Lane Eight are making inroads.

25 Nov 2022 - 7:23AM

Stories behind top Asian brands

The story of Watsons: from licensed opium dealer to Asia’s biggest pharmacy

Watsons today is Asia’s leading retail health and beauty chain. It’s an empire that was built on selling opium and opiates in colonial Hong Kong, writes Patrick Chiu in this excerpt from a forthcoming book.

30 Apr 2022 - 1:45PM

Retailing

Hershey, Mars contract manufacturer finds sweet success in mooncake venture

Multizen Asia, a Hong Kong-based contract manufacturer for Hershey and Mars in mainland China, has forayed into mooncakes and is on track to make 1 million pieces this year.

17 Aug 2021 - 3:10PMvideocam

Mooncakes produced at Multizen’s factory in Tsuen Wan. Photo: May Tse

Obituaries

Lee Man-tat, head of Lee Kum Kee sauce empire, dies at 91

Lee Man-tat is credited with turning Lee Kum Kee into a household name in Hong Kong, with the company’s products now sold in more than 100 countries worldwide.

27 Jul 2021 - 11:41PM

Consumers

Explainer | Here’s why Vitasoy needs to tame the China boycott crisis after stock losses

Vitasoy shares plunged 10 per cent last week in the aftermath of a leaked internal memo and a backlash by consumers in mainland China. Can the firm behind the city’s venerable brand tame the crisis?

11 Jul 2021 - 12:01PMvideocam

Hong Kong innovators

Most Hongkongers have used Red A Plastic’s products, even if they don’t know it

Star Industrial’s Red A Plastic products are in many a Hong Kong household, and its plastic cups were made famous by Chow Yun-fat film Prison on Fire. These days, its customers include food businesses and hospitals.

16 Jun 2021 - 4:32PMvideocam

Star Industrial’s Red A Plastic products can be found in many a Hongkonger’s household. Photo: Winson Wong

Stories behind top Asian brands

From minnow to mighty empire: jeweller Chow Tai Fook’s story

Initially just a goldsmith, Chow Tai Fook opened its first stores in Hong Kong and Macau before the second world war and now has more than 4,000 worldwide. Along the way the company changed the gold and jewellery industry.

18 Jan 2021 - 12:10PMvideocam

An employee arranges gold bangles inside a Chow Tai Fook store. Photo: Bloomberg

How Chow Tai Fook became an iconic Hong Kong brand

19 Mar 2021 - 11:18AM

Old Hong Kong

Then & Now | ‘Made in Hong Kong’: a mark of quality it took decades to build

Trust, like that placed in the ‘Made in Hong Kong’ label, must be earned. Forcing the ‘Made in China’ label upon Hong Kong-manufactured goods will squander an internationally recognised sign of credibly.

20 Aug 2020 - 1:57PM

Stories behind top Asian brands

Watsons: the story of the oldest established business in Hong Kong

The first A.S. Watson dispensary opened more than 175 years ago in Hong Kong, and took its name from the pharmacist who ran it. Today the company has 14,400 stores in 24 markets and annual revenue of over US$19 billion.

29 Oct 2018 - 10:17AMvideocam

The first A.S. Watson dispensary opened more than 175 years ago in Hong Kong, making it the city’s oldest business

Today it has 14,400 stores in 24 markets and annual revenue of over US$19 billion

Stories behind top Asian brands

White Flower oil: 91 years of going from scents to strength

The pungent cure-all oil blend is an Asian institution, offering relief from everything from headaches to travel sickness. We look at its history, from humble beginnings in 1920s Penang to today’s modern Hong Kong factory

2 Jun 2018 - 8:08PMvideocam

A bottle of White Flower oil, a staple in Chinese family medicine cabinets for decades. Photo: James Wendlinger

Stories behind top Asian brands

The Sasa story: from tiny basement store to Asian cosmetics empire

Couple with no business experience took a gamble on a 40 sq ft shop in 1978 and have ridden the wave of Asia’s rising affluence to the point where their customer base ‘now includes, well, almost everyone’, co-founder Simon Kwok says

12 May 2018 - 8:26PM

Stories behind top Asian brands

The history of Hong Kong's Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce, so good it's served in space

Launched 130 years ago in Guangdong, Lee Kum Kee’s products are not only popular across the globe – its sauces have even made it to space

14 Feb 2019 - 1:55PMvideocam

Stories behind top Asian brands

Homegrown Hong Kong: Po Chai Pills, city’s go-to cure for everything

The tiny pills that reputedly remedy everything from stomach pains to menstrual cramps have long been a staple of local medicine cabinets. Now the company is looking to attract younger consumers to keep the legacy going

20 Feb 2024 - 11:13AMvideocam

Despite the use of more modern packaging methods, each box of Po Chai Pills looks the same as it has for decades. Photo: Po Chai Pills

Homegrown Hong Kong

Homegrown Hong Kong: Po Chai Pills marks 120 years as our favourite cure-all

19 Mar 2021 - 11:18AM

Hong Kong culture

Homegrown Hong Kong: Cafe de Coral – feeding the working class

The first Cafe de Coral was opened in Causeway Bay in 1969 by Victor Lo Tang-seong, who wanted to introduce burgers to the city. He developed the concept of selling Chinese fast food in a restaurant setting, and the rest is history

4 Aug 2017 - 10:18AMvideocam

Stories behind top Asian brands

Homegrown Hong Kong: the nostalgic world of Camel flasks

In the 1940s, most Hongkongers relied on vacuum flasks to keep liquids hot or cold, usually made by local brand Camel. Today, the company is still making them, and runs a vacuum-flask-themed hotel in Kowloon Bay

21 Mar 2018 - 12:23PMvideocam

Raymond Leung with a display of Camel vacuum flasks at the Camlux Hotel, opened in the former flask factory. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Stories behind top Asian brands

Homegrown Hong Kong: Eu Yan Sang's traditional Chinese medicine

Despite years of family strife, the murder of the founder’s wife by her brothers-in-law and a takeover by a Singapore investment group, traditional Chinese medicine maker Eu Yan Sang has survived and flourished as a Hong Kong icon

21 Mar 2018 - 12:21PMvideocam

Staff at Eu Yan Sang’s Chinese medicine shop in Central dispensing Chinese herbs in the 1980s. The company now has 248 retail outlets and 34 clinics in Asia and further afield. Photo: SCMP

Hong Kong culture

The Holga: how a Hong Kong-made camera became a cult classic

The 1980s plastic camera that takes far from perfect pictures soared in popularity in the 2000s – thanks to photojournalists such as David Burnett and Teru Kuwayama; now attempts are being made to resurrect it

6 Feb 2024 - 10:13AMvideocam

Stories behind top Asian brands

Homegrown Hong Kong: the wholesome story of Vitasoy

Started in 1940 as a way to fight malnutrition among Hong Kong’s growing immigrant population, Vitasoy has become an international brand, yet remains a quintessential part of the city’s identity

21 Mar 2018 - 12:20PMvideocam

Homegrown Hong Kong

Homegrown Hong Kong: The secret to Vitasoy’s unchanged taste

19 Mar 2021 - 11:18AM

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Stories behind top Hong Kong brands

From Chow Tai Fook and Lee Kum Kee to Vitasoy and Camel flasks, many of Hong Kong's most famous brands have become symbols of Asia to the rest of the world. We chart the fascinating histories of Hong Kong's top brands - their often humble beginnings, their ups and downs, and how many home-grown companies are now international names.

last updated:

9 September, 2024