Wesley NG is the founder and CEO of CASETiFY, a brand founded in 2011 that has already taken the world by storm with its creative and personal phone cases not only in the hands of international superstars such as Pharrell Williams, Hadids, Kardashian family, Cheng so-yeon and Hikari Mori, but also in the attention of international fashion brands, including Vetements, Moncler, Brands such as Saint Laurent and Thom Browne have partnered with them to create phone cases.
Black blazer, trousers / all dunhill
Silver rhinestone logo water cup / Versace
As CEO of CASETiFY, Wesley has always maintained his way of thinking as a designer, especially on a personal level, he still loves trends, cares about design, is very creative and true to himself. "Live every day as if it were your last," is his life motto outlined in an interview, he loves life, values family, and has a Sunday program of morning tea with his mom and family dinner. As a Hong Kong creative leader, he is good at discovering the good in life, which he defines as the best moments in life are defined by the effort you put into achieving your goals.
The world rewards creativity
Because of his global business, Wesley NG travels between the United States and Hong Kong, where his life is a little different, and every time he returns from the United States, he still insists on morning jogging, and the longer he stays at home, the more he becomes like a "night owl". "Hong Kong is called the 'city that never sleeps', and for good reason." Wesley quipped.
There are many other manifestations of differences and communion in him, such as his drinking of St. Pelu's sparkling water, and his "specialty" dish is Bacon Egg Noodles (Carbonara), but he also loves Hong Kong's authentic stinky tofu and chicken feet. His idol is Li Ka-shing, and in his conversations, he also often quotes Jobs, Buffett, Kobe Bryant. He can sing Oasis' song "Wonderwall" from beginning to end, and he also believes that Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love" is a movie that everyone should see. Born in Hong Kong, he studied abroad and then returned to Hong Kong to become a designer, and the multicultural convergence and blending is also reflected in the creation of CASETiFY, a creative brand that started in Hong Kong and is loved by fashionistas around the world.
Color-block blazer, striped trousers, striped decorative scarf / all KENZO
Justin knitted shirt / ROAM
GREEN COLOR-BLOCK SNEAKERS / CALVINLUO
CASETiFY was born from a very simple idea: the iPhone was a great product, but its accessories, the phone case, were not qualified in terms of the market at the time. When Steve Jobs first gave his talk about the iPhone in 2007, Wesley thought, "Wow, this device is going to change the world." But phone cases are bulky and don't have any style at all. "Wesley knew he could do better, he completed secondary school in Australia and studied design at university." I've always loved art and design, I've always been creative. "And I wanted a phone case that would express my personality." Like, wouldn't it be great if I could turn all my Instagram photos into a custom phone case?"
CASETiFY was born, in fact, it was only in its infancy at that time, and it was called "Casetagram". International media outlets, including The New York Times, TechCrunch, and Mashable, reported on it as an "innovative product." "Our Casetagram was the first and only app at the time that let you customize your phone case with your Instagram photos." At the time, Wesley and his partner, Ronald, were still working full-time, and the two spent their after-hours designing, coding, and running Casetagram. Ronald is responsible for everything related to technology, while Wesley is responsible for product design, branding, and marketing.
Bryan casual trench coat, Justin knitted shirt,
Hudson casual straight-leg pants / all ROAM
One day, Casetagram's servers went down, and after investigation, it was discovered that a large amount of traffic accessing Casetagram caused the server to go down. It turned out that Jamie Oliver, a popular British chef, saw the CASETiFY report and subsequently posted it on his Instagram and Twitter, and his fans flocked to it. "I have to thank him and I said to my co-founder: 'Hey, maybe we should quit our day job. Think of it as a business rather than a product. Wesley said.
Wesley gave up his job as a design supervisor to start a business full-time. When asked if he had hesitated to quit his job and start a business, he replied that for most people in Hong Kong, life is like a list of things a person needs to do, find a job, get promoted, buy a house, get married, have children, etc. "My mom never pushed me to do that, and it really affected me deeply." Wesley said his family was just one of ordinary families in Hong Kong, but his parents often encouraged him: "Encourage me to follow my dreams and follow my heart." I think that's very important. ”
Check suit, shorts / all Moschino
Blue Shirt / Dunhill
Black booties / KENZO
Fun is very important to Wesley, both in life and in business, and he founded CASETiFY as a passionate and energetic project, and his success inspires others to pursue their dreams. More than a decade on, Hong Kong is becoming more and more creative because of CASETiFY's worldwide success. While many people were once more willing to pursue careers in fields such as law, medicine and finance, now more people are willing to join creative companies in Hong Kong. "I think it's very important to set an example that you can become rich and successful by joining a creative company, not just joining a bank. I would say that if you're creative, if you're interested in marketing, if you're interested in social media, there's a place for you. The world rewards creativity. ”
Color-block blazer, striped trousers, striped decorative scarf / all KENZO
Justin knitted shirt / ROAM
Face challenges and face yourself
"I've always been someone who appreciates the good things in life." Wesley is a designer, and once upon a time, he never imagined that he would become an entrepreneur. Founding CASETiFY was also a process of self-discovery for him – "It helped me realize who I am and what I really want in life." ”
Creativity is what Wesley insists on, and when asked what the difference between thinking as a designer and as CEO would be for him, he replied that as a designer, he thinks the way he thinks the way he does, which may be his advantage from other CEOs. Just like CASETiFY has been developing for more than ten years, you can also feel the power of creativity.
Bryan casual trench coat, Justin knitted shirt,
Hudson casual straight-leg pants / all ROAM
For example, in the first two years after CASETiFY's founding, there were many imitators, and Wesley developed a unique CASETiFY design that allows users to design phone cases beyond Instagram and have more ways to customize them, such as printing their names on the case with different fonts and colors. Then the blockbuster mirror phone case shone brightly and showed her personality, quickly attracting the attention of celebrities such as Kylie Jenner, who took a selfie of her 260 million Instagram followers with the mirrored phone case. Stars around the world are using CASETiFY phone cases, such as Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa, while BLACKPINK, AESPA and BTS have all partnered with CASETiFY to launch exclusive collections.
Wesley's perspective turned to fashion brands, which set CASETiFY apart from the competition. Around 2015, he emailed Sarah Andelman, co-founder and creative director of Parisian fashion house Colette, a Paris-based multi-brand store that had been called "the most fashionable store in the world" before it closed in 2017. He hadn't expected to hear back, but Sarah wrote back and said she was interested. Thus, the Colette ×CASETiFY Apple Strap was born, and Colette's iconic navy blue and white design combined with striped elements was sold in limited quantities in Colette stores. It is also the first Apple strap designed and created by a third party. In Wesley's view, technology accessories such as mobile phone bags can be combined with fashion to have the creativity of design and self-expression.
Partnering with Colette opened the doors to CASETiFY's fashion castle, and CASETiFY went on to launch joint collections, from streetwear brands such as Vetements, Yohji Yamamoto and Sacai, to household names like Coach.
khaki long trench coat, gray suit, white shirt,
Grey suit shorts, striped tie,
CLASSIC BROGUES / ALL THOM BROWNE
Although when Wesley first started, most people didn't believe that a retail business with a phone case could be a big business, let alone a global business. But Wesley did it, and CASETiFY apparently let the phone case out of the single field that originally belonged to 3C product accessories, resonate with celebrities, fashion brands, and even the Louvre and artists, erupting creative sparks. In October 2020, The Landmark Hong Kong opened CASETiFY's first independent store, and since then, the number of stores has increased, from Hong Kong to California, Tokyo, Seoul and other world fashion cities, including Shanghai's K11 also welcomed CASETiFY's first store in mainland China.
"Starting a company is hard, there are all kinds of challenges every day", people can't help but wonder how Wesley, as a designer, made mobile phone case retail a global business, and how did he rise to the challenge and create miracles. In Wesley's view, courage and persistence are all qualities needed to start a business. Of course, you must also understand your users, understand the needs of consumers, and treat their problems as if they were your own problems. Equally important is cooperation with all parties. In addition, there are some people who have influenced him through books, lectures, etc., such as Ray Dalio's "Principles" by Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater, the world's largest hedge fund. You can do anything in this world, but you can't do everything. "It's a constant reminder to keep my feet on the ground." For example, Kobe Bryant said: When you give up, it is when you let others win. And Steve Jobs' speech at Stanford University, which said: Life is finite, and you should follow your passion. This made Wesley think more deeply about the nature of entrepreneurship — you don't have to be a boss to succeed, and if you find the people you want to work with, or companies that align with your mission, that's fine. "At the end of the day, Jobs was talking about following your passion, wherever it leads you."
Check suit, shorts / all Moschino
Blue Shirt / Dunhill
Black booties / KENZO
In 2021, as CASETiFY celebrated its tenth anniversary, he told his team about his excitement about the future: "Now we are at this stage where we have the ability to do things that we haven't done before, which is to expand into different products, different verticals, different business models. I have a lot of ideas. Today, those ideas are being realized: CASETiFY launched a Web3 enterprise called ARTFT and ventured into non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Environmental protection and sustainability are also important topics for Wesley. He led the brand to continuously optimize the Re/CASETiFY recycling technology, which won the 2022 "World Changing Ideas Awards" from the famous American business magazine Fast Company.
Bruce Lee, one of Wesley's idols, once famously said, "Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, don't look for a successful character and copy him." And Wesley is living Bruce Lee's famous saying, he goes his own way, and makes CASETiFY bloom in an increasingly wide world.
Executive Producer / Wang Jun
Editor / Geng Xin
Photo by Matta Ma
Styling /aurora
Makeup / Fang Ting
Producer / Zhu Junhua
Written by / Jin Miaomiao
Fashion Coordinator / Lesley
Costume Assistant / Veela Wang
Venue / The Ukiyo Studio
Typography / Sun Yanhua