MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Love, Bonito, Southeast Asia’s largest omnichannel womenswear brand has announced the appointment of Pat Achakulwisut as its Chief Commercial Officer. As it continues to accelerate its category and international growth, it has also added two senior hires Joyce Lao and Matteo Giacomozzi to its retail and sourcing and production teams, made its first sustainability hire internally with Supei Ho who was previously in product development roles, and promoted Suzanne Simanjuntak to Head of Indonesia.
“It’s an exciting time of growth for our business and we’re thrilled to expand our leadership team, and bring onboard experienced individuals while recognizing the strong capabilities of our existing members because internal mobility is important to us. These decisions demonstrate our continued commitment to achieve long-term success and advance our sustainability journey to benefit our brand, community, and the society,” said Love, Bonito Chief Executive Officer Dione Song.
“We are confident about the addition of outstanding leaders Pat, Joyce, and Matteo to the Love, Bonito family, and pleased to acknowledge the stellar contributions from existing talents Supei and Suzanne as they move forward with new and expanded responsibilities. People are our most valuable asset and I’m sure these individuals will further the organization’s ambition of evolving into a holistic female ecosystem and fulfilling essential facets of women’s needs,” added Co-founder Rachel Lim.
Pat Achakulwisut, Chief Commercial Officer
Pat spearheads the strategy and growth of the brand’s assortment globally while helming the Commercial organization, which comprises the Design, Product Development, Planning, Buying, and Merchandising teams. Pat commenced her role in August and is a key contributor to Love, Bonito’s senior leadership and executive team. She has over a decade of strategy, and mergers and acquisitions consulting experience focusing on fashion retailing and supply chain globally. Pat joined from the omnichannel platform Pomelo Fashion where she was VP – Head of Retail and on its executive team. She was responsible for its omnichannel proposition, retail expansion, and in-house product direction, and oversaw the omnichannel transformation of more than 25 stores.
Joyce Lao, Head of Retail Excellence
Joyce joined the company in April and oversees the executive Retail Centre of Excellence team to develop Love, Bonito’s retail store design and build strategy, and analyze and execute solid action plans in improving operational productivity, visual merchandising, and training. She spent more than 16 years in the restaurant industry, gaining an in-depth understanding of the functionality of departments in the front-end and back-end of the businesses through practical, cross-border experience. Joyce previously served as General Manager for OUE Restaurants, and Head of Business Development and Partner Relations at Paradise Group, where she led and contributed to the expansion of its restaurants across multiple countries.
Matteo Giacomozzi, Head of Sourcing & Production
Matteo leads Love, Bonito’s global sourcing and production organization, and develops and shapes its sourcing and production strategy. He joined the company in August, bringing with him more than 11 years of experience in the fashion industry. Matteo was previously Division Director at Tendam, one of Europe’s leading groups in the specialized fashion sector. There, he led sourcing and a portfolio of over 300 vendors and was also the working group leader for Tendam’s WE CARE multi-disciplinary committee covering sustainability at the product level focusing on materials, processes, innovation, and packaging. In the earlier stages of his career, he held sourcing, quality assurance, and product development positions at Ermenegildo Zegna Group and Finpeco, which works with high-end brands like Carolina Herrera and Oscar De La Renta.
Suzanne Simanjuntak, Head of Indonesia
Suzanne was promoted to her role in July, taking up the reins from Bianca Belnadia who remains one of Love, Bonito’s brand ambassadors. She oversees the expansion and growth of the company in Indonesia and continues to strengthen its omnichannel offerings, grow local teams, and expand its physical presence. Suzanne was previously a brand marketing manager, and joined the company in September 2019 as Retail and Operations Manager. She has about six years of experience in the fashion industry and began her career as a fashion designer and eventually the brand manager for Mel Ahyar First, Indonesia’s luxury ready-to-wear fashion brand.
Supei Ho, Sustainability Manager
Supei is responsible for charting out the company’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) vision, and working together with cross-functional stakeholders to drive social impact programming, advocacy, and activations. She assumed her current role in November this year. Supei joined Love, Bonito in May 2020 as Product Development Manager before she was made Senior Product Development Specialist from April to September 2022. She is the founder of the slow fashion brand Su by Hand and her commercial experience spans fashion trends forecasting and designing for premium-luxury brands, and the sustainable label The R Collective. She has also been an Educational Ambassador with Redress, an environmental non-governmental organization working to reduce apparel waste, to deliver lectures on fashion sustainability to Singapore institutions. Supei holds a certification in Business Sustainability Management from the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
These appointments follow Love, Bonito’s recent strategic developments in 2022 which include the launch of its activewear category with its acquisition of Singapore female-led activewear brand cheak, the opening of flagship stores in Hong Kong and Indonesia, the release of its first children’s storybook under its LBCreate social impact arm, and introduction of its Embrace: Maternity line.
For more information, please visit www.lovebonito.com/intl.
