Definitely not the ’60s rock band (misspelled!), but a refreshed Design Orchard to be known by its four-letter acronym, based on its “original” name

The Design Orchard building. Photo: Chin Boh Kay

Through the past six years that we have been writing about Design Orchard, we were often reminded that the store on level one is really called Design Orchard Retail Space. A mouthful for a name of a shop, we, like everyone else, call it Design Orchard. Even members of the staff of the store (and it really is that) calls it Design Orchard. So do owners of brands who avail their merchandise there, influencers enticed by the store, and whoever else enamoured with it. Probably aware that a 7-syllable moniker is cognitive overload and probably won’t easily stick, the store operator, Singapore Fashion Council, decided to shorten it to DORS last November. And in so doing, kick-started what they called a “rebranding”.

Acronym for a name or not, the store that stocks “local brands you love” has been suffering from a bit of an identity crisis. Sure, it was set up in 2019 to showcase the work of local fashion and product designers, and it still does, but it could not shake off its tourist gift shop aspiration or shed its pasar malam vibe as it tries to accommodate startling miscellany—even when fashion is front and centre—of unexceptionable design value. Regrettably, its reputational strength was hampered by its name: With ‘Design’ as the first word, the store has found it difficult to meet expectations. And it had a regrettably bad start when it appointed the doomed Naiise to operate it.

The new name and the new logo. Photo: shopdesignorchard/Instagram

Naiise did such a deplorable job with the merchandising that national pop icon Dick Lee did not mince words when he told The Straits Times in 2020: “I went into Design Orchard and it’s shocking, the standard of clothing stocked there.” The store tried to remake itself when the then TaFF (Textile and Fashion Federation of Singapore) took over the operations in 2020. But somehow, despite their best efforts, they could not leave behind the grassroots leanings of the store. The design part of their name remained elusive in their merchandise, now mostly playing up the holiday-in-the-sun aesthetic. Two years after TaFF came into the picture, the store underwent a “re-launch”. That was, however, no indication that massive changes were afoot.

In its rebranding with a new moniker (and attendant logo of interlocking type), the present team has been emphatic that the name Design Orchard remains, but it refers to the building—“an integrated retail and incubation space”, a staffer told us—which houses Singapore Fashion Council and its subsidiaries that support the local fashion industry. But the rebrand is not just a cosmetic makeover in name and communication materials (including the paper bags, now in “sage green”). The store closed on the Monday before last for what it calls a “ big refresh”. Will it be just a makeover? And how massive will it be? DORS is expected to reopen next month. Only then can we tell.