When Ho Ching accompanied her husband Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to the White House on Tuesday, she was spotted carrying a dinosaur-motif pouch. Mere hours after her photos circulated the web, netizens jumped at the chance to emulate her style, snapping up the accessory designed by 19-year-old Seetoh Sheng Jie, a student at Pathlight School for autistic children.
He is part of the school’s Artist Development Programme, which brings in professional artists to mentor the autistic students and provide them with opportunities to display their work and sell their products.
According to Pathlight’s Art Faculty website, which sells the ‘Dino Silhouettes’ denim pouch for $14.80, stocks were quickly depleting on the same day “due to overwhelming response for this product”. Apparently, 200 pouches were sold in just one day, whereas before this, it would take about four months to sell the same amount.
Netizens were pleasantly surprised and admired Ho Ching’s down-to-earth choice of carrying a pouch that cost less than $20 to such a huge event on the global stage. She had bought the item last Saturday at an annual fundraising event by the Autism Resource Centre — the parent organisation of Pathlight — to which she is an adviser.
But if you’d like to get your hands on this trending accessory now, you’re gonna have to pre-order and wait about two months, because it’s currently sold out. Alternatively, you could support The Art Faculty by purchasing other products made by Pathlight students.
