Recently, I splurged a little on a pretty Kosmart hair tie which I really liked.

It is red with splashes of lightning zigzagging through it, and I thought it was pretty unique.

Under the sun, the hair tie really looks like it’s set on fire by lightning.

The simplicity of the Kosmart hair tie complements both casual and office wear.

Kosmart has quite a few classy hair pieces, which fall into that grey area where they are not as obiang as those from brands with lots of bling, yet doesn’t look too cheapskate like the usual plasticky generic ones you get off the shelf.

The Kosmart range also hair accessories suitable for adults and teens, and can double up as statement pieces, such as the ones below.

My favourite is the Shimmering Violet with Swarovski crystals embedded in between the waves.

I got in touch with Ms Quentin Koo, who is the sole distributor of Kosmart in Singapore, to ask her what makes Kosmart hair accessories unique, why she started distributing Kosmart in Singapore, and what Kosmart fans can look forward to in future.

1. Where did Kosmart come from?

The history of Kosmart hair accessories production roots back to 1976, when the business belonged to Italian family.

Now the family company is continuing their work in a larger scale with global introduction of Kosmart brand, while collaborating with global fashion leaders like Swarovski company.

All our Kosmart range is made in Europe (France and Lithuania) in our factories. From time to time, you’ll notice our products in magazines and fashion shoots.

2. How are Kosmart products made?

In 1992, Kosmart decided to produce hair accessories without machines on a family business scale in Europe.

The hairpieces are handmade in France and Lithuania, where each of the pieces is carefully crafted by hand in the studio factory.

Just like producing hair jewelleries, the crasftmen carefully polish, shape and assemble the hairpieces, and it takes at least 10 days to complete one piece for just the polishing stage.

Comparing to machine made pieces, the surface is finer and there is no plastic excess around the hand-polished edges (where you can feel by touching it).

Apart from that, Kosmart uses bioplastic material on all the products. Bioplastic (also known as cellulose acetate bio renewable plastic) is less harmful to our environment as it produces lesser greenhouse gases compared to common plastics in the process of manufacturing.

Some of our range of products do not contain metal hence they are suitable for people who are allergic to nickel.

Local competitors’ products are machine-made mainly for the masses, and a lot of them are from China and Korea whereby the quality is cheaper, hence the price are more affordable.

The crystals we used are also licensed from Swarovski crystals and we provide warranty for products with crystals that became dislodged.

3. What kind of event can I use which Kosmart clips for?

You can use Kosmart clips for all kind of occasions.

– daily wear –

Try Kosmart’s simple beige or salmon colour clips

– for work / special occasions –

elegant range with 1 or few Swarovski crystals or luxury line with extravagant design for that special evening or occasion

Our products designs are elegant yet simple and suitable for everyday style. Our wide range offers more choices for our customers’ casual day out to office attire and evening party dress.

4. Why did you enter this business?

One day I was looking for some good quality hair accessories for my long hair because of the hot weather.

But when I checked out the two biggest departmental stores in Singapore, there were only limited choices.

Most of the designs were either too bling or too matured for my casual style.

In the end I bought 2 accessories from a well-known brand that cost me about $80 but one of them broke after few uses. I was disappointed because the costly product didn’t last long.

I chanced upon Kosmart when I did some research online, and found out their products really suits my taste: simple and good quality!

I went to the Kosmart website and saw the opportunity of being a distributor in Singapore. After I contacted them, their response was almost immediate; we had our first conference call just 2 days later.

Now besides selling online, I am now looking into departmental stores, hair salons and market fairs.

But I don’t have any IT marketing background hence this (online sales and marketing) is a very new skill to me. I have attended some online marketing workshops ever since venturing into my new business.

5. Share the first few reviews you received from customers.

A few friends of mine bought the accessories from me and they mentioned they love the quality. I have a friend in Malaysia who fell in love with the brand and keeps coming back for more.

Another customer commented the price is reasonable especially those in the Swarovski range.

These reviews can also be found on Kosmart’s Facebook page.

6. Is there any quality assurance from Kosmart?

We provide a 1 year warranty for products with crystals. The crystallised products come with a warranty tag that you have to keep it for our reference as we will send the product back to Europe for examination.

7. How often do you bring in new styles?

We try to launch a new collection each season: summer, fall, winter, spring.

Usually its one universal line per one season, however, from 2018 we will have a few collections for each season and it will match with Swarovski’s new collections.

8. How to order, pay, delivery FAQs?

You can buy our products via Facebook or Lazada, however due to the Lazada commission, buying through Facebook directly from us is cheaper.

If you see any products that interest you, we are just a message away.

We accept bank transfer and paylah. Shipping fee is free for purchases above $50.

We offer exchange within 14 days if you do not like the products. To exchange, just post the products back to Kosmart Singapore in their original packaging; postage fees will be borne by customer.

9. What are 5 things you never travel without?

I always travel with:

1) Luxe hair oil that makes my hair shine

2) Cetaphil sunblock

3) Neal’s Yard deodorant

4) Redken frizz dismiss

5) the Kosmart metal hair clip below (because it’s light weight and metal free, won’t pull my short hair)

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Kosmart hair accessories are currently available on Facebook and Lazada.

Prices range from $5.50 to $30.

Shipping was pretty fast, I received my hair tie within a few days.

It looks more impressive under bright lighting especially outdoors, yet not too overly fussy and complicated, which suits my needs just fine.

If you’re looking to purchase a mid-range statement hair accessory, you can consider checking out Kosmart’s range.

Special thanks to Ms Quentin Koo of Kosmart Singapore for sharing the beautiful photos and the interview replies above. All photos in this article are from Kosmart unless otherwise stated.

This is a series on #SGfemales to feature women whose stories make up part of this island we call home.