Pestle Mortar is all grown up.
The theme of Harper’s BAZAAR Malaysia’s January/February 2026 issue is “New Year, New You”. Putting that into practice is Pestle Mortar.
Pestle Mortar’s ‘US’ campaign, shot by Malaysian photographer Zane Gan
One of the pioneers in Malaysia’s streetwear scene, Pestle Mortar–also known as Pestle & Mortar Clothing or PMC–was founded in 2015 and has since made a name for itself by building a community around its hyper-localised approach to fashion and lifestyle. It has also become known for bringing together international brands with local talent.
In 2025, Pestle Mortar went dark, wiping its digital presence and leaving only a message for its followers to stay tuned. But the brand did not keep fans waiting for long; to celebrate its 15-year anniversary, Pestle Mortar announced that it was to undergo a major rebrand.
Under this refreshed direction, Pestle Mortar released a new collection entitled ‘Us’, a series of elevated essentials, as well as a collaborative capsule collection with Italian heritage sportswear brand, Diadora. What does Pestle Mortar, in its latest iteration, plan to do? And how will they keep the “heart” of the brand–its unique Malaysian perspective–alive?
BAZAAR speaks to co-founder Hugh Koh and brand director Jack Gan to get to the bottom of Pestle Mortar’s rebrand.
Pestle Mortar’s Hugh Koh and Jack Gan at the brand’s re-launch party (Photo: Pestle Mortar)
What brought about this rebrand?
Hugh Koh: My co-founders and I were 25 when we started this brand. We’ve been doing this for 15 years. Now, we’re 40. Our love for fashion is still at the heart of what we do, but a big part of the rebrand is realising that our tastes–what we like, what we enjoy–have evolved over time. From a style perspective, we want Pestle Mortar to align more closely to who we are now: a cleaner look. And we want to focus on putting out higher quality pieces. From a storytelling perspective, we have always been invested in local Malaysian stories and we wanted to explore how we can tell them in a larger, more international context.
What does a focus on quality look like in the creative process, from designing to manufacturing?
Jack Gan: It starts off with how and where we’re sourcing materials. The material we use is organic cotton, some of which comes from fabric mills in Japan. And we want to buy less; for some products, we worked only with two rolls of fabric that are made with a specific machine. In terms of design, we are presenting our graphics in a subtler way. It’s all in the details; our labels are attached to the side or hidden within a shirt or jacket.
Pestle Mortar’s ‘Us’ campaign was shot in New York by Malaysian photographer, Zane Gan.
Is it fair to describe Pestle Mortar’s rebrand as a shift from quintessential streetwear?
HK: Yes, I think our DNA will always be in streetwear but the canvas is a little different, as we try to push the boundaries with what we can do.
It’s not just the look and feel of Pestle Mortar that has changed; the price point is also higher.
HK: Looking at our target audience, we realised that they have been growing with us, which is amazing; they’re in their 30s and 40s. That was one of the things we took into account. We also looked at the brands we were up against regionally and globally, because that is the direction we want to take Pestle Mortar. [The price increase] is what is needed to reflect our efforts to upgrade the brand. But at the same time, we still want to be accessible. We made sure to have product diversity. Yes, our woven shirts may go up to RM400, but we still have entry level products that start at RM200.
Italian chef Diego Reali fronts the Pestle Mortar x Diadora campaign (Photo: Pestle Mortar)
Tell us more about Pestle Mortar’s going in an international direction, while staying true to your slogan, ‘Malaysian at Heart’.
HK: A good example is our recent collaboration with Italian sportswear brand, Diadora. From a global standpoint, everyone loves football; it’s almost a universal language. It has been one of the strongest lifestyle pillars in Pestle Mortar’s community. Heritage football jerseys are in; and we have the opportunity to make our version of it, which incorporates Malaysian design elements, such as songket detailing and Jawi script spelling out the phonetics “PMC”.
JG: That’s why we chose Diego Reali to front our campaign for this collaboration with Diadora. He’s an Italian chef, who runs his own Italian restaurant, Stefania Restaurant, in Kuala Lumpur. He represents that cultural exchange and international mindset. It’s the same narrative that led us to working with Malaysian photographer, Zane Gan, for the campaign of our first Fall/Winter 2025 collection after the rebrand, ‘Us’.
HK: He used to intern with us, back in the day!
JG: Exactly, the campaign was shot in New York through a Malaysian lens.
(Photo: Zane Gan/Pestle Mortar)
Can you tease any upcoming projects?
JG: We don’t want to reveal too much but we definitely want to spread our wings and connect with people around the world.
HK: There is maybe something we can talk about; we’ve been wanting to do a pet collection for a long time. So you can expect that for your cats and dogs!
