Once a trending and popular Malaysian brand, Duck appears to be no more, so, too, sibling Lilit and, even more surprisingly, the flashy parent, FVGroup

Since our reporting three months ago that the sole Duck store at Haji Lane closed, the views of the post has risen steadily. In the past two weeks, it shot up. Curious to know why the continued interest in a brand whose founders have not enjoyed particularly glorious publicity, we searched online to see if there had been breaking news that we missed. But we came up with nothing. We then decided to check the brand’s website to see what new merchandise there might be, but we were met with practically a blank white page. The search engine informed that “this store is unavailable”. Even the brand’s social media pages have been inactive. We are aware that Duck has been closing physical stores, but we did not think they would shut down their online presence, as it appears to be. Not only is the Duck website decommissioned, the sister clothing brand Lilit and the parent company FVGroup have also met the same fate.

The last Duck store in Kuala Lumpur at the Pavilion mall (which, according to the brand, was their first physical retail space) also gives every indication to have been shut down. When we called the boutique, a precorded message in both Malay and English told us that “the number that you dailed is temporarily out of service”. When a search was conducted on the Pavilion directory for Duck, what came back were “Peking duck”, “dirty duck”, and “roast duck”. It is evident that Duck is no longer in the mall. The other known Duck store is at Suria KLCC, but an online search revealed an unambiguous status: “permanently closed”. Similarly, the store is no longer listed in the Suria KLCC directory. That unit had brought tremendous pride to the brand’s influencer-founder, Vivy Yusof, as it was—she boasted in 2018—located “near Dior”. When we visited it recently, the shop front was hoarded. Many in Malaysia are wondering: “Itek sudah mati?” Is Duck dead?

When a search was conducted on the Pavilion directory for Duck, what came back were “Peking duck”, “dirty duck”, and “roast duck”

The Duck brand is part of The Duck Group, founded by Ms Yusof and her husband, Fadzarudin Shah Anuar in 2014 to create homegrown brands that could be sold exclusively on their now-defunct e-commerce platform, FashionValet. By now, the sad fate of FashionValet is known throughout the Malay Peninsular, right down to our tiny island. Duck started with a focus on selling scarves that can be used as a tudung. The goal was to provide a range of designs, from simple to exotic, and to package them as products that enjoy similar high-end branding as Hermès, as Ms Yusof stated. Its name, Duck, was inspired by her popular blog, Proudduck, a peek into her life in London, where she was pursuing her uni degree. And the blogger’s ambition was to create a “wholesome 360-degree representation of a Muslim’s lifestyle,” as she told the media. The scarves quickly gained popularity. In its heydays, Duck reportedly had seven stores in Malaysia.

But buzz alone was not sufficient to ensure the brand’s longevity. Vivy Yusof had been enthusiastically lauded for her social media savvy and how she was able to leverage her online journal to launch the brand that shared the same name as her blog. Back then, she was described by the press as an “exceptional” brand creator, even when she did it mainly around herself. She shrewdly used her social media presence to build a community that not only adored her, but also loved what she represented and what she stood for. Concurrently, she used (the initial) scarcity and social proof to create a high demand for Duck products, making them coveted and eksklusif. She was seen as a model of immense success, culminating in a memoir and being one of eight individuals featured on the cover of the BoF 500 annual issue for 2022, which was about the people shaping the global fashion industry. Curiously, the e-mag did not dig deeper to see how she arrived at such accomplishments. But the accolade brought immense pride to Malaysia, and proved that Ms Yusof and her company were highly investable.

The transition, however, from the successful brand creation phase to sustainable brand management seemed to be where the strategy faltered. Both founders appeared to have lacked a long-term, sustainable plan. The absence of foresight, however, was not limited to Duck. Their first brand, the e-commerce site FashionValet, too, eventually collapsed, after it was alleged that both Ms Yusof and her husband had moved money invested in their organisation (reportedly RM8 million) to another company they owned without the approval of FashionValet’s board of directors. Both of them were charged in court and the trial is scheduled to begin next year. But Ms Yusof has made public statements about her intention to keep the Duck brand operating and even expand it. After deciding to shut down FashionValet in 2022, the serial entrepreneur stated that the move was made to focus on the company’s “best performing portfolios”. They had only two.

Brand creation does not necessarily lead to brand building. Those that Vivy Yusof conceived, particularly Duck, were built on the personal brand of her-as-influencer, not on sound, scalable, and sustainable business fundamentals. While this strategy was effective for creating an initial buzz and a loyal following, it lacked the necessary corporate structure, financial planning, and risk mitigation to endure. The success was essentially an extension of Ms Yusof’s popularity, not a standalone business model. FashionValet was reportedly unprofitable for many years, relying on Duck and Lilit to subsidize the platform. Duck may not have been doomed to the slaughterhouse, but its over-reliance on a failing parent company was not pitched for the long run. Perhaps, the brand’s name already determined its fate: Ducks are not good runners; their waddle and awkward gait on land make them open to ever-present danger.

The famous Duck box. Photo: Chin Boh Kay

Update (19 August 2025, 20:08): After our post was published, Vivy Yusof shed some light into the vital status of her business. In the latest issue of her personal “newsletter”, Sincerely, Vivy, she sought to clarify because “every day, I receive messages about dUCk”. She wrote: “I am no longer involved in decision making. Since Khazanah sold to new investors. I have remained only as a minority shareholder and lost both my board seat and control over the company.” And things only went downhill from there. “When the issue of Khazanah was raised in parliament,” she elucidated, “and MACC froze all our accounts for investigation purposes, it was as if we were killed instantly. We could no longer do business. Finished.”

With that dramatic flourish, she continued: “ The company could not pay anyone, could not pay rent so shopping malls closed our outlets (the store in Suria KLCC remains hoarded), could not fund new products until everything collapsed.” It seemed she was saying that until the whole operation goes belly-up, she will not be able have the money to pay staff, for rent and fresh merchandise. She insisted that “it is very unfair. And if this is the reality entrepreneurs face in Malaysia, we have a lot to think about. But I have to accept the fate that the brand I created with so much love and care has now become history. It is the most painful place for me to be, which is to only be able to watch from the outside.” Classic woe show.

Update (30 August 2025, 23:00): Hours before Malaysia celebrates Hari Kebangsaan (National Day), Vivy Yusof shared a post on Instagram to announce the launch of the audiobook of her memoir The First Decade, published in 2022. In the comments, she wrote: “Of course when this was written, I didn’t know… the frozen accounts would drive what’s remaining of FV (dUCK) out of business.” There is now no question about the finality of their business(es)

File photo (except stated): Awang Sulung for SOTD