Jidapa Watsotok, the founder and chief designer of Thai artisan eyewear company was midway through her day in March 2016 when calls and messages started to flood in on her mobile phone.
The unthinkable had happened. One of her designs made it to Hollywood.
It had all started when her London-based public relations agency delivered a pair of Jida Watt sunglasses to American media personality Kylie Jenner.
The make-up mogul decided to take a selfie of herself wearing the pair of Jida Watt sunglasses and posted the picture on her Instagram account. Within seconds, the photo — and the Jida Watt brand — gained global traction among her almost 55 million followers at that time in 2016.
In the next four to five months, Jida Watt’s first collection, launched only a few months before, was completely sold out.
A STRONG BRAND ETHOS
Watsotok launched Jida Watt — an abbreviation of the first two words of her name — in 2015. Each pair of Jida Watt eyewear is made of strong yet lightweight titanium, and stands out for its unique and often quirky design.
It helped catapult a local Thai brand onto the global stage.
After her first collection sold out, Watsotok received multiple requests from across the world asking her to relaunch the eyewear.
While most brands would have jumped at the opportunity to profit from the situation, she decided to stick to her principles of maintaining her brand’s exclusivity by producing only one collection per year.
It was this sense of individuality and brand integrity that garnered the brand worldwide acclaim in recent years.
“Consumers appreciate the fact that we stick true to our ethos of producing unique, handcrafted designs that you can’t find anywhere else,” she said. “In a world where big brands produce dozens of collections a year, we stand out because of our unwillingness to jump on the bandwagon.”
A ONE-WOMEN TEAM
In running a business, Watsotok has taken an unconventional route, and kept the team small. There is only one employee in her company: herself.
She oversees the design aspect of the brand, while outsourcing the manufacturing to a workshop in Japan. Her agencies in both London and Los Angeles handle matters relating to public relations and marketing.
Working as a one-woman team has its perks. For one thing, she can work remotely without a need for a physical office. She is also able to personally oversee and maintain a high level of quality for all her products.
But being the only person responsible for all aspects of the business also means that having a simple, fuss-free logistics process is critical.
In 2019, Watsotok began working with DHL Express Thailand, which helped simplify outbound deliveries, in time for the launch of her fourth eyewear collection “Abrumms”.
She has been able to ship out orders within minutes without having to worry about unnecessary administrative processes or bottlenecks. Her customers have also been able to receive their packages on time, and in perfect condition.
All of this has helped Jida Watt improve its customer relations and reinforce the brand’s quality and identity, Watsotok explained.
“No matter where they are, customers expect quick and reliable delivery these days. DHL has been handling all the processes with care and I’ve not once heard of any complaint regarding delivery service from my customers,” she said.
While the bulk of her customers today comes from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Watsotok hopes to further expand the brand’s footprint globally by creating a wider variety of collections.
In particular, she has her sights on growing the brand in the U.S. and France, where she has a strong following of both retail shop partners and online customers.
“E-commerce has the ability to put a small business on the global map,” she said. “It’s a world of big opportunities.”
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