Fine Tune
My first fashion start-up: Dunhuang murals meet streetwear — and a hard lesson in supply chains.
- Year
- 2020–21
- Reading
- 03 min
- Figures
- 10
FNTN | Fine Tune was my first fashion start-up, launched in 2021. It grew out of my 2020 designs that merged imagery from the Dunhuang murals of the Mogao Caves into streetwear, blending Chinese traditional culture with Western styles. It folded when no Hong Kong factory would produce our quantities without compromising on quality — and taught me to know the supply chain inside out.
- Role
- Founder & Designer; led marketing
- Team
- Julie Huang — Photographer
- Disciplines
- Fashion Design
- Entrepreneurship
- Brand Identity
- Business Model
- Cultural Heritage
- Tools
- Adobe Illustrator / Instagram
Inspired by the blend of high fashion and streetwear — especially the designs of Virgil Abloh — I started crafting my own threads in 9th grade.
One thing bothered me about most modern streetwear: its disconnect from history. It usually screamed “new” and “contemporary.”
From the Mogao Caves
To fix it, in 2020 I delved into the traditional Dunhuang murals of the Mogao Caves and merged their imagery into a range of T-shirts, shorts and socks, drawn in Adobe Illustrator.
A summer program with the School of The New York Times gave me the lowdown on setting up a fashion start-up. Energised, I launched Fine Tune in 2021 — building on the Dunhuang designs to blend Chinese traditional culture with Western styles into a haute couture collection.
Fine, and tune
“Fine” is how we describe some of the most recognised Chinese goods — fine silk, fine china — and it carries a sense of excellence in quality. “Tune” stands for the brand’s personalised style and the ability to customise.
We framed Fine Tune as a fashion brand based on Chinese traditional culture under decentralised control, with three hopes: spread Chinese youth culture, decrease production waste and reduce anti-Asian discrimination.
Fig. 02Company description
Fig. 03Business Model Canvas
Business model
- 01
Value
“Workable” and customisable items that let customers lead the fashion trend instead of following it — fashion changes, but style endures.
- 02
East × West
A fusion of Eastern and Western fashion elements, using Chinese heritage and tradition to convey the attitude of Chinese millennials.
- 03
Community
A decentralised brand: members vote for preferred designs, and the top customised designs are rewarded with discount tokens.
- 04
Channels
An online website and app first; pop-up stores in urban cities second.
- 05
Revenue
Sales of products, plus transactions of discount tokens.
Digital designing
A screenshot from the deck shows the fn-9513 cargo shorts after six hours in Illustrator: raw elements of the Chinese cloud and dragon overlaid onto specific shapes of the shorts, following a brainstorming table.
After three hours, the fn-9616 tee already had its FNTN tag, an irregular fabric attachment on the front left sleeve that extends to the back, and irregularly overlaid fabric behind. With both templates done, the last step was choosing a colour theme.
Fig. 04Work in progress in Adobe Illustrator
2020
Dunhuang mural designs begin
2021
Fine Tune launches
5
Design sheets: tee, shorts, hoodie, bomber, shoes
When the factory says no
Once the designs were done, I headed the marketing team, creating an official Instagram account to showcase our brand identity, logo and working sketches.
Then we hit a snag with our supply chain. No Hong Kong factory would produce our goods in the quantities we wanted unless we compromised on quality. The writing was on the wall — we had to fold.
I need to be well-versed in every aspect of my company’s supply chain; in fashion, that means knowing the factory and manufacturing process inside out.”
