Former national swimmer Nicholas Tan is the founder of the It bag brand Aupen. SINGAPORE – The Singapore-founded It bag brand Aupen has been seen dangling off the arms of pop superstars Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Beyonce, but the team behind the trendy label has largely kept a low profile – until now. Former Singapore national swimmer Nicholas Tan has come forward as its founder in a new interview with fashion trade journal Women’s Wear Daily (WWD).
The 35-year-old is a former Asian Games (2010) and two-time SEA Games (2007 and 2011) athlete, who took home the gold for Singapore in the men’s 4x100 m freestyle relay at the 2007 SEA Games. After his swimming career, Mr Tan studied biology at Harvard University in the US. He was also an early team member of what is now known as Sea, the parent company behind Singapore-based e-commerce platform Shopee.
On the style front, he was the first Singaporean man to feature in a top European brand’s campaign for a season collection, when he was selected for Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana’s 2014 spring/summer advertising campaign. Mr Tan told WWD that his interest in fashion was sparked by his modelling career. Prior to founding Aupen in 2022, he owned a fashion showroom in Asia that carried designers and labels like David Koma, Dries Van Noten and Joseph Altuzarra.
The showroom was involved in introducing these designers to the Asian market and he said he helped to develop collections with designers, so they would be c.