YAP SISTER

SCOPE OF WORK

In January 2021, couture millinery studio YAP SISTER called on Matte PR to help launch its debut collection of Asian heritage-inspired headpieces, Auspicious Expressions. We were retained to conduct media relations targeting trade and consumer media, as well as engage with local and global stylists to secure further editorial opportunities. The goal was to propel the YAP SISTER fashion label with media and industry attention.

YAP SISTER is a slow fashion brand in Calgary founded and led by Carrie Yap. The brand is a visual representation of Carrie’s journey to connect to her family and culture, preserve traditional craft, and highlight traditional Asian everyday wear.

Our scope of work centred around identifying newsworthy and editorial opportunities for YAP SISTER, with the goal of securing national media covering the launch of the Auspicious Expressions collection, the brand’s traditional crafting techniques and inspirations, and Carrie Yap’s story as a hyphen-Asian designer.

STRATEGY

Matte PR worked in partnership with YAP SISTER to create a 4-month public relations program. This was centred around media relations and designed to educate Canadian fashion enthusiasts on various design and business aspects of the couture milliner. This included pitches on the design and production process of the brand’s headpieces, sharing the storytelling products and spotlighting Carrie as a thought leader and inspiring designer.

The agency built a top-tier list of the leading stylists and fashion editors to share YAP SISTER’s accessories and develop meaningful relationships. This scope of work saw Matte PR produce an eye-catching lookbook to distribute within the industry and secure editorials for the Calgary fashion brand.

First, we distributed a press release to announce the launch of the Auspicious Expressions collection and introduce the YAP SISTER brand to major Canadian media. Following the press release, we produced and dispatched targeted pitches centred on the brand founder’s Asian heritage and inspirations, as well as the collection’s couture handcraft.

In tandem with the media pitching, we presented the Auspicious Expressions lookbook to Canada’s top fashion editors and stylists, positioning the slow-made headpieces as editorial photoshoot-worthy items.

RESULTS

Over the four month campaign, YAP SISTER was profiled in 38 pieces of coverage, including eTalk, The Globe and Mail, The Kit, FASHION, S/ Magazine and FAJO Magazine.

Due to our efforts, Carrie Yap was quickly recognized as an Asian-Canadian fashion designer paving her own lane in the Canadian design landscape, and YAP SISTER was celebrated in the media for its beautiful couture accessories.

Matte PR’s media and stylist campaigns garnered a reach of 50,368,620 for YAP SISTER.