It was a beautiful season of Jeannie Pang’s life. She had always loved children and, at 35, finally had a child of her own. All seemed good until she went shopping for clothes as a new mum.

“I took 10 pieces of XL clothing to the fitting room. I tried all 10, all 10 I couldn’t fit into. I was always a size M. I was thinking: How did my body change so much after giving birth?” she related to Salt&Light.

Jeannie was full of joy when her son was born. But that joy quickly evaporated when she realised that she had put on weight after the birth.

She started exercising and dieting to shed the weight. Nothing worked. That was when she decided to come up with a line of one-size clothing that would free women from dress sizes, numbers on weighing scales and body shapes.

That was 10 years ago. The decision pivoted Tracyeinny, the local label Jeannie was already helming, into the inclusive fashion space.

No longer did women need to worry about the size of the outfit because there is only one size available. With the clever use of fabrics and details like elastic bands, belts and ties, Tracyeinny created pieces that could be adjusted to the body instead of making the body fit pre-set sizes. The hope was to provide comfort while restoring self-confidence and encouraging body positivity.

But the business was not the only thing that changed 10 years ago. Jeannie’s whole life was transformed as well.

Young and adventurous

Jeannie was 26 when she decided to start her own business. She had worked at a bank for a few years when she decided it was time for a change.

Her original plan was to sell pre-loved clothes with a friend. They registered a domain name on the Internet: Tracyeinny. It was a combination of her friend’s name and Jeannie’s. That business did not pan out but the name stuck.

At the time, her cousin Pamela Goi was buying cheap clothes from Bangkok and reselling them at bazaars at the university where she was pursuing a Sociology degree. The pair decided to take the side hustle big.

“We were young, no commitments. We didn’t think too much. We just wanted to try it out,” said Jeannie of her desire to be an entrepreneur.

Pamela, now 40, agreed: “Don’t try, you don’t know. And I trusted her. Our mothers are sisters and we grew up together.”

(Left to right) Jeannie and Pamela grew up together and are not just cousins, they are good friends as well.

They had relatives living in China. With local contacts, sourcing for clothes there was easy.

They began by hawking their wares on LiveJournal blogs. Business was brisk from the start. Soon they were engaging their own designers and manufacturers in China.

Pamela (left) and Jeannie (right) work with one of the designers and manufacturers in China.

“We were quite the pioneers then. Everything we put out sold very well.”

The wakeup call

For 10 years, Tracyeinny prospered. The online business expanded to five retail shops across the island.

Tracyeinny began as an online business before expanding to five outlets. It now has two stores.

Then cracks began to appear.

“We were young. Money had come in so easily.

“We began to put out more (inventory) than we could sell. We didn’t go on social media to promote our clothes. We were just so arrogant.”

Added Pamela: “We didn’t check in on our stores.”

Fashion brand Tracyeinny arose from a desire to make clothes fit women and not women work to fit their clothes.

The business began to fail and all their shops shuttered till there was only one left.

In desperation, Jeannie turned to God.  

She had grown up in a Christian home. In fact, both Jeannie and Pamela had gone to church from young. But at 16, Jeannie decided she had had enough.

“I was the prodigal daughter,” she said.

“I had no relationship with God, I didn’t pray. There were a lot of things I did that was not of God. I went to fortune tellers, believed in fengshui and I became extremely fearful.”

Well before thinking about returning to her faith, Jeannie had a supernatural encounter. She was sitting in bed one night when she heard a soft but audible voice say: “I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)

Recalled Jeannie: “My husband was sitting beside me, but he didn’t hear anything. I didn’t know what it meant. I had not been in church for nearly 20 years. A lot of my Bible knowledge was not there.”

Then she had another encounter.

“I was washing clothes in my house one night. At the balcony, I saw a man with shoulder-length hair with a big red scarf all over him.”

On the day she decided to return to Paya Lebar Methodist Church, what she saw finally made sense.  

“I sat in the sanctuary and gazed at the stained glass. I immediately felt like it was the same image I saw at balcony.”

It was an image of Jesus.

After that service, Jeannie resumed going for weekly church services.

Healing with homecoming  

But her return was accompanied by “a lot of oppression”.

“I kept thinking I was going to die. The thought would come in very fiercely. I would have thoughts like: ‘You have a brain tumour’,” she told Salt&Light.

“Then I experienced pain in my arm. I thought I had a lump there. So I went for a lot of check-ups. But every check-up came back okay.”

As she persisted in her Christian faith, healing came in several ways. Through a lot of counselling in church and inner healing sessions, the hurts from the past that opened doors for fearful thoughts to take root were dealt with. 

What was most unexpected was how serving in church healed her as well. She  joined a special prayer group that prays for the church. She also joined the children’s ministry. Through that, God showed Jeannie the Father’s love and restored her identity in Him.

Then her pastor asked her to help out at Alpha courses. Jeannie went to pray for the participants and hear, on their behalf, for a word from God for them.

“God is amazing. Through that, I also healed. Those oppressive thoughts still come but I have learnt to choose not to listen to them.”

God with us    

On the business front, a miracle happened.

“God opened doors for us to revive our business,” said Jeannie.

They were about to close their last shop, a pop-up in Bishan, when the mall offered them a permanent store for a year. Jeannie and Pamela decided to give Tracyeinny one last try, especially since they had the idea to make one-size outfits.

Tracyeinny works with factories in China to manufacture their clothes.

One year became two and then more. Tracyeinny now has another outlet in Paya Lebar.

“God sustained us throughout the period.”

But the effort to turn the business around was tough on Jeannie. A few years in, in 2018, she felt she needed extended time with God. So she went to her church’s prayer room every day for a week.

“In that week, God sent a person to me every day in that prayer room to encourage me and pray for me. How amazing is that!”

On one of those days, Jeannie was crying alone in the prayer room and she told God: “Please send someone to me now.”

Within two minutes, a woman with a stroller and her child came into the room.

“She told me that the lift had broken down but she still felt the need to walk up three flights of stairs with her baby and her stroller to come up to the prayer room.

“Then she prayed for me. We have stayed in touch till now,” said Jeannie.

Power in fashion

As Jeannie and Pamela sought the Lord, ideas for their business flowed.

“It is God who gave us the wisdom. It cannot be wisdom from us because it just pops into our head.

“God is very creative. He can also run a fashion business,” Jeannie declared to Salt&Light.

When they conceived the one-size outfit idea, they never expected it would impact women so much. But it has.

Tracyeinny’s clothes only come in one size. But unlike usual shapeless free size outfits, their designs allow women to adjust as needed.

One woman who had avoided looking at herself in mirrors after giving birth found the confidence to look at her own reflection after people complimented her when she wore a Tracyeinny outfit.

Another who never wore dresses found dresses that fit her at Tracyeinny. The woman’s cousin who had trouble finding clothes to for what she thought was her 5XL body found that Tracyeinny clothes fit her just fine.

One customer in deep depression who never left home got a Tracyeinny outfit sent to her. It lifted her spirits so much that she was able to step out of her house.

“It’s so heartwarming to think that a piece of clothing can change your life,” said Jeannie.

Along with the body affirming one-size outfits, Pamela came up with different marketing campaigns to celebrate the unique woman: “You are just you and you are one of a kind”.

The most recent effort was “Project Dear You“.

Beyond just dressing women, Tracyeinny wants to restore to them their sense of self and confidence regardless of their shape and size.

Said Jeannie: “I read an article about a woman who jumped down during her confinement. It is so joyful when you have a newborn. How did she get so sad? She didn’t have a community to lift her up.

“So we came up with this idea of a postcard that you could send.”

Postcards were placed throughout Tracyeinny stores and women were encouraged to write to friends and family.

Their stores play only Christian music. It is their small way of sharing their faith. Sometimes, the music draws shoppers and soothes them.

Both Tracyeinny outlets pipe in Christian music throughout the day.

“The other day, a woman walked in looking for me. She told me, ‘I have been feeling very low. I walked past your store and I just felt I had to walk in.

“’After browsing for a few minutes, I really felt better.’

Pamela told Salt&Light: “The testimonies from our customers re-emphasise that we are going in the right direction.”

Touched by the Changemaker

Returning to God changed more than Tracyeinny, it changed Jeannie.

“I realised how arrogant I had been when I was running the business. I was very bad, obnoxious. I always thought I was right and I wanted my own way.

“Deep down, I was a very angry and very hurt person.”

Pamela, who has been always been close to her cousin, gave in a lot to her. “I listen and believe in the good in everyone.”

Jeannie added: “She forgives very easily. I don’t think this business would have survived if we were not partners.”

As her relationship with God deepened, Jeannie realised the need to make things right.

“One day she apologised to me. I was quite taken aback,” Pamela said.

“I saw the change in her. She is not so harsh and she holds back a lot more. Her heart has become very soft. Now she is milder than me.”

The cousins agree that “the first 10 years of Tracyeinny and the second 10 years are very different”, and that difference is God. 

Tracyeinny aims to foster a sense of unity and sisterhood so women can connect with and support each other in their journeys.

Said Pamela: “God has been very good to us. He could have just let us close the business, but He didn’t.

“We are now God-centred. So the things that we do for customers and the branding campaigns all have a little bit of Him in it.”

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