MAPIC Retail Interview : Jessica Thompson, Brand President of Halara
Singapore headquartered apparel specialist Halara operates in North America, the UK, Europe, Australia and Mexico and brand president Jessica Thompson says that the company’s reason for being is democratising access to quality clothing and to making something for everyone.
Founded in 2020 by Joyce Zhang, Halara has built a reputation for stylish, affordable everyday wear crafted from performance-driven fabrics and the brand’s rapid rise has been fuelled by its presence on TikTok, where the brand has built a community through high-volume creator partnerships and story-led content.
MAPIC: Tell us about Halara?
Jessica Thompson: Halara is revolutionising the athleisure space by borrowing the fabric, fit and functionality of activewear and applying it to all clothing categories, from activerwear to workwear, daily clothing and even to eveningwear. We leverage customer feedback to continually improve and upgrade existing product and to bring new product to market. This means that we’re addressing very specific customer pain points in novel ways, with comfort and adaptability in mind. Some great examples of this are our active dresses, which come in over 100 styles that have various functionality to meet a variety of bust support, lengths, adjustable straps, design features, leak protection. Our Flex Denim is another hero example – our in house team of fabric engineers developed a knit denim fabric that is ultra stretchy, lightweight, soft and that even has cooling properties.
Jessica Thompson, Brand President of Halara
MAPIC: What are your current plans?
Jessica Thompson: In both Europe and the US, we’re expanding our offline footprint. We’re a DTC, online only brand, but we’re heavily focused on reaching customers in real life and giving them the opportunity to experience our fabrics and functionality firsthand. Our offline events include wellness festivals and activities, as well as physical pop-ups. This year, we’ve hosted pop-ups in Los Angeles and Palo Alto and will be popping up in New York and San Diego. We’ll be expanding these temporary offline stores to key cities in the UK, Europe and Australia in 2026.
This year, we launched an initiative called The Halara Circle in the US, with plans to expand to the UK and Europe later this year. It’s an ongoing, weekly opportunity for visitors to our site and app to receive free product in exchange for their honest feedback. We’re very serious about listening to the customer voice and making sure that product is meeting their needs and expectations.
Halara store
MAPIC: What are your main objectives for expansion?
Jessica Thompson: We will continue to invest heavily in fabric R&D and product development so that we can continue to offer high quality product that meets a broad range of needs.
We’re always focused on social media as it’s a key channel for reaching customers in a real and meaningful way, participating in conversations with them, and listening to what they have to say. Offline is also a large investment for us as it’s critical to build real community and connection around our brand. Social and digital marketing can only go so far, and tangible brand experiences help us to meet our objectives of growing our brand awareness and loyalty.
