By Cheryl Chia

MORE Singapore "blogshops" catering only to men have sprouted up recently, to vie for a slice of the online shopping pie.

Blogshops are shopping websites through which consumers can buy products.

Those based here usually sell products imported from other countries, and, often, only for women.

In the last three years, at least six blogshops just for men have been started, including blogshops Unikverse and GTCY.

One of the owners of Unikverse, which sells Taiwanese streetwear for men, Mr Nick Yeo, 21, said: "I couldn't really find many online shops catering to guys, so my business partner and I decided to start a Web store catering to guys.

"The streetwear here for guys is very limited so we decided to bring in unique streetwear and, hopefully, influence the local streetwear scene with the unique style of our clothes."

GTCY owner Gavin Tay, an 18-year-old student, agreed: "I decided to sell mainly male apparel, because I felt that there were too few blogshops catering to males, compared to those for females. Out of 20 blogshops, maybe only one blogshop sells male apparel."

Demand has been growing so much that some blogshops that used to be just for women have also started stocking merchandise for men.

Blogshop Salad Days started carrying male apparel last year - one year into business - when demand spiked, said its founder, Ms Poh Yong Hui, 22.

She said: "I started carrying male apparel after a lot of male friends kept asking if I carried them. I would count 30 per cent of my clientele as male."

Most of the male blogshops my paper interviewed said that they target their goods at those aged between 15 and 30, as they are more Internet-savvy and more inclined to shop online.

Mr Lionel Tan, 26, who loves "blogshopping", said: "I've bought clothes from blogshops many times as I find their designs unique. I don't want to walk down the street and have 20 people wearing the same T-shirt as mine.

"It is so much more convenient to pay by bank transfer." Student Eugene Chan, 16, agreed: "I'm always on the lookout for interesting prints and designs. Buying online gives me a bigger range of designs."

ccher@sph.com.sg

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