As her skills deepened, so did her sense of purpose. She started teaching herself pattern making, draping and garment construction, poring over YouTube tutorials, ripping apart failed projects just to salvage fabric, and refining techniques that would later define Rock Daisy’s aesthetic.
By the time she moved back to Singapore in 2022, she knew it was now or never. “I had business acumen from finance and now I had the technical skills. If I wanted to do this – create something authentic – I had to start.”
THE PURSUIT OF “LOW-IMPACT” FASHION
From the outset, Liou’s vision for Rock Daisy was clear: Small-scale, low-impact, and rooted in natural materials. But in an industry where sustainability is often more marketing than action, how does a small, independent brand genuinely uphold these values?
For Liou, it starts with sourcing. “When I tried asking fabric suppliers where their cotton was from, they couldn’t even give me an answer,” she said. “You only get transparency if you’re a huge manufacturer ordering thousands of units.”
In the end, the designer opted for Tencel, a brand of lyocell fabric made from wood pulp. “It has traceability across the entire supply chain,” she explained. “You know exactly how the trees are grown, how the chemicals and water are processed – it’s a material I can stand behind.”
Beyond fabric choices, Rock Daisy pieces are built to last. Flat-felled and French seams, bias-bound interiors, and construction techniques that double labour time but extend garment lifespan are just some of the invisible details that elevate each piece.
“It’d be easy to cut corners,” Liou admitted. “Tencel costs nearly ten times more than polyester. Sewing a single piece takes half a day because of the techniques I insist on using. But that’s the cost of making something responsibly.”
With Rock Daisy’s pieces ranging from S$75 to S$185 (US$56 to US$139), competing in Singapore’s price-sensitive market isn’t easy. “I could talk about sustainability all day, but sometimes, people just want to know how to style it,” she said. “And that’s okay. If they love it and end up buying something better for their wardrobe without even realising it, that’s a win.”
That said, Liou is refreshingly candid about the limits of conscious consumption. “It’s a little hypocritical of me to say this as a fashion designer, but buying sustainable and responsibly and ethically made pieces is actually not enough to fix the climate crisis that we’re in. While making more intentional purchases is a good start, real change requires shifting our habits too.”
STRENGTH MEETS SOFTNESS
Named after a resilient wildflower Liou encountered in the Alps, Rock Daisy embodies a duality of contrasts – rock, evoking strength and structure, and daisy, symbolising grace and femininity. This balance of hard and soft, masculine and feminine, is woven into every design.
“I love oversized silhouettes,” said Liou. “There’s power in clothes that suggest rather than reveal. It’s about strength and softness, masculine shapes balanced with feminine details.”