MATTER: Renyung Ho and Pants for Progress
As seen in CREATIV Magazine — Volume 2 | Issue 9
Humans are perennial storytellers; we tell stories when we don’t even say a word. “What we wear has always been a marker of who we are and where we belong in society,” says Renyung Ho, CEO of Matter, a socially motivated lifestyle brand based in Singapore. “Fabric is probably the oldest craft form we have,” she says. “And clothing is a direct expression of our choices (and non-choices).” Ho believes that clothing can teach us about each other, but it can also teach us about ourselves; it can change the way we see the world.
In 2009, Ho and her co-founder Yvonne Suner began manufacturing fashion-forward pants for the modern wayfarer, with inspiration that hails from centuries ago — down to the printing technique itself. It was important to the founders to provide a means for artisans in the developing world to prosper, but it was also important to them to tell the stories of today’s artisans and the stories of those who came before them.
Ho and Suner set their eyes on woodblock printing, an ancient printing method invented in seventh century China for storytelling — to record history and maintain legacy. Chinese artisans used hand-cut wooden blocks and natural dyes to reproduce Buddhist religious texts and patterns on cloth, and the technique eventually became prevalent all throughout Asia and parts of Europe as a means of designing textiles.
Determined to find the true stories behind the timeworn blocks, Ho and Suner combed through the ancient texts, heritage museums, and tattered printing workshops of Asia, eventually finding one man in Rajasthan, India who still knew the meanings behind each print. They then appointed seasoned block carvers to formulate modern renditions of patterns that retained the moving tales and lively spirit of the primitive designs.
Today, each pair of Matter pants comes with a story of its origin and intent. “Humans are made to create and made to tell stories, and we are born to search for meaning,” Ho explains. “Patterns and prints are an expression of that yearning to make meaning… Telling the story behind each print is a reflection of our philosophy to stay true to the origins of where something, anything, comes from.”
And Ho came to realize, in an unexpected harmonious twist, that blockprinting offers rich meaning in every touch of wood to fabric. She observed in India that the finished product was never the same, depending on such minute details as the pressure of the artisan’s hand, the weather — the sun, the wind, the humidity that day — and the purity of the natural dyes themselves. “You never really know what you’re going to get until it’s done,” Ho says. “And I thought that was a beautiful metaphor for life.” As an entrepreneur, Ho has learned to embrace uncertainty, but she was also raised to relish it.
Ho grew up in Singapore but spent much of her youth traveling with her family, which filled her with a sense of wanderlust and a belief that the most magical moments happen between destinations. “I love that transit period,” she explains. “Because not having any expectations is when the beauty happens. Beauty happens in the margins.” Ho’s parents introduced to her the treasures of the world, but they grounded her with the lesson that it is an “incredible privilege we have to grow up with security and the sense that we could chase our dreams.” And further, Ho adds, “They instilled in us the responsibility to level the opportunity field for others.”
With this pledge, Matter is determined to change the way we define value in merchandise. Although many retail stores today are flying high on a platform of mass-producing clothing at low cost and selling it at bargain prices, Matter employs factories that share their high standards of fair labor, and Ho foresees a widespread migration of other brands in that direction: “The first step is to provide an affordable alternative to consumers,” she says. “I strongly believe that people will choose more responsible products if all else is equal. The second [step] is a change in mindset of how we perceive value, in seeing that buying something that you love and believe in has far-reaching effects.” The more we know about where our clothes come from, the more we are inspired to choose wisely. In Ho’s words, “Every consumer choice is a vote in a certain direction.”
