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Trish Peng is New Zealand’s leading wedding dress designer.
Bridal gown designer Trish Peng is riding a booming wedding market, thought to be the busiest since the 1980s.
“2022 has been incredible so far, especially after the challenges of Covid. We have grown our team, launched a bridesmaid collection, and grown our brand internationally,” Peng said.
Peng began designing custom dresses for clients while studying at Auckland’s Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design, and launched her luxury bridal gown business in 2014, after graduating.
“I fell in love with the wedding industry. Being surrounded by love and happy people was extremely rewarding for me, and I discovered my calling in bridal,” she said.
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STUFF
Trish Peng says 2022 has been the busiest year for the industry since the 80s.
It had been almost nine years of working on the business, and she had faced many challenges along the way, including launching her own clothing brand before realising she needed to focus solely on wedding dresses.
But the Covid-19 pandemic had been the biggest challenge.
“The pandemic hit everyone, but it hit the wedding industry quite significantly with couples having to postpone or cancel their weddings worldwide. I had a few brides that had to postpone three times,” she said.
During that time she launched Yours Truly, which sells sample and second hand designer wedding dresses.
“It was great to see the industry bounce back and be stronger than ever. 2022 is apparently the busiest wedding year since the 80s,” she said.
As much as the wedding dress industry was a niche market, there was still quite a lot of competition, Peng said.
“While we focus on [retail] sales, the other side of the business we are growing is the wholesale [business] where we sell our dresses to bridal boutiques around the world.”
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Peng has launched her 2023 collection.
This year has been a successful year for Peng, who has just launched her 2023 collection, which features clean fabrics mixed with intricate beaded, 3D floral lace.
She also launched her first collection of mini dresses for hens parties, wedding receptions, and engagement parties, which Peng said was not only fun, but broadened her customer base.
And for the third time she showcased her collections at New York Bridal Fashion Week.
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Looking to the future, Peng says she would like to expand and offer her own line of accessories.
“It was such an incredible feeling to be back travelling again after it was cancelled for the past two years. We were lucky to pick up 11 new stockists worldwide from the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia,” she said.
Looking to the future, Peng said she would like to expand and offer her own line of accessories.
“We intend to expand our brand into more international stores and to have a presence in every major city,” she said.
