For those who are still watching Gossip Girl, online shopping has become the zeitgeist. I myself buy everything online, from bedsheets to self-tanners; nothing is out of my range.
However, I do feel the trepidation of the Filipino shopper when it comes to feeding their credit card information online despite all the high technology software that protects online customers. However, just like me, once you’re in, there’s no going back.
Sticking to her ken, Bianca Zobel created her internationally bedecked fashion shopping website High Maintenance in 2008. Slowly, the site has been able to carry cult brands that can’t be found in common boutiques.
“High Maintenance was formed initially with the intention of opening a high-end multi-brand physical (or ‘brick and mortar’ as they call it) store in Manila called High Maintenance. However, with my work experience in the online department of London’s Brown’s Department Store, I began to see the potential of doing business online (or ‘click and mortar’),” says Bianca. “When the company made a collective decision to put up an online store instead, we literally had to start all of this from scratch. After all the necessary research and market studies were conducted, after contracting a good IT team to develop the site and oversee and maintain its backend requirements, we created our business plan and slowly began to build what is now www.im-hm.com, which of course stands for ‘I am High Maintenance.’”
The website soon became a family affair. “After a year of running IM-HM.com, my dad’s sister, Mercedes Zobel, joined in on this venture. We decided to narrow our categories down to focus on swimwear, resort wear, and accessories to create a luxe swim and resort wear online boutique that caters to fashionable jetsetters who enjoy jetting off to sunny destinations all year round. We love traveling, and even more, traveling to tropical beaches/destinations, so we knew this new concept would be something close to our hearts — something we were all very passionate about. “
Bianca, a beach bunny at heart, first focused on playa/player pieces: “I suppose the website is unique in itself — although there are a few online stores that sell swimwear and a few kaftans or cover-ups, no other online boutique is focused on marketing the ‘resort life.’ No other website carries the whole array of swimwear, resort wear, luxe lounging dresses and comfortable clothing for traveling. We also carry accessories and footwear, and we are planning to bring in more categories soon, so stay tuned.” We will.
High Maintenance materials:
The label stocks new brands from Brazil: Adriana Degreas, Clube Bossa, Poko Pano
Luxurious swim and resort wear from Colombia: Caffe
The most amazing kaftans and cover-ups you will ever feast your eyes on: Camilla from Australia
Fun and fashionable swim and resort wear from the US: Letarte, LSpace
Luxury swimwear from Israel: Gottex
Celebrity lines: Elizabeth Hurley
Comfortable loungewear perfect to wear “in transit” or while sightseeing: Rachel Pally & Velvet. Some styles are also perfect to dress up for evening.
From Bali: exotic sarongs from Balifu, beautifully crafted beach bags from Vivacqua, and luxe gold necklaces from Oishii.
From Manila: Resort wear for evening by Charina Sarte, and gorgeous accessories from Nicole Whisenhunt, Linya Disenyo, and Wynn Wynn Ong.