Venerable brands such as the 127-year-old cooling powder Arrow-Stuck Snake or the century-old cough pill Hatakabb (five centipedes) may seem unlikely firms to make a fashion statement.
Just as sports, energy drink or auto brands use fashion to build up their profile among young and active consumers, these two old hands combined to mesh nostalgia and new designs for an unexpected outcome.
"Our brand may look old-fashioned in the eyes of younger customers," said Anurut Vongvanij, president of The British Dispensary Co, the Thai producer of the cooling powder.
"We've been in business for more than 100 years, and if we want to stay around for another 100 years we have to try something innovative and out of the box to extend our customer base to the younger generation."
The British Dispensary Co recently partnered with the famous illustration designer Spun Intarawong to design "Snake" bag fashion products.
"We hope both Thai and foreign tourists, particularly Chinese, will like our bag and link it to other Snake products, which we will gradually roll out to the market," said Mr Anurut.
The Snake Brand is well-known as the first cooling powder available in Thailand. Founded in 1892 by Dr Thomas Hayward Hays at a "modern drug store" with a full-time pharmacist under the "Arrow-Stuck Snake" trademark, the brand was taken over by Dr Luan Vongvanij in 1928, who expanded the business to be the authorised distributor of many international brands such as Boots, Elizabeth Arden and Christian Dior.
Dr Luan researched and developed various kinds of consumer products, ending up with a cooling powder.
The pop-up store at Siam Center mall has proven successful in luring a younger demographic to learn about two brands that are over 100 years old. Pitsinee Jitpleecheep
Today, the brand is instantly recognisable and its products are exported to 16 countries.
Mr Anurut said the company previously worked with Thai designer Matter Maker to design and launch fashion products using the Snake brand at a Songkran festival.
The feedback from the younger generation was beyond the company's expectations, he said.
Several thousand Snake t-shirts were sold out in only one month.
Mr Anurut said the company expects the same response from its Snake-Spun collaboration.
Apart from launching limited edition Snake bags, The British Dispensary also introduced Snake cooling mist spray at its Absolute pop-up store on the ground floor of Siam Center mall.
The spray will be available in retail channels in the fourth quarter of this year.
He said the company started promoting its Snake product lines including the cooling spray for active outdoor activities the past several years, aiming to make them accessible to a new generation of customers.
"Siam Center is a shopping destination for young lifestyle tourists. This pop-up will help link the Snake brand to not only local shoppers but also foreign tourists, particularly Chinese, supporting our plan to make Snake become a global brand one day," Mr Anurut said.
The company has tried to expand its business to China three times, but remains unsuccessful, he said.
"China is a very big market and breaking in is difficult there. However, with out-of-the-box marketing activities, our business in China has started to grow. Snake is one of the 10 Thai brands on Chinese tourists' shopping lists when they come to Thailand," said Mr Anurut.
Hatakabb (Sim Tien Hor) Co, the producer of Hatakabb herbal cough pills, decided to team up with the famous Thai designer brand Greyhound for Hatakabb X Greyhound original t-shirts, Hawaiian shirts, cloth bags and caps.
Mr Anurut says the response has been tremendous to its Snake brand t-shirts and collectables.
Hatakabb was founded a century ago by Jui-Sai Sae-Sim, an immigrant from China. With knowledge in Chinese herbal medicine and heart rate detection, he started formulating herbal medicine for personal and family use.
His products found commercial success and he finally trademarked his medicines under Hatakabb brand with his signature portrait centred on the packaging. Today, Chinese herb-based medicines are widely consumed by Thais and foreign tourists, especially among Chinese.
"At first, we were unsure whether a very old herbal cough medicine brand like Hatakabb could mix with a trendy fashion brand like Greyhound. But to our surprise, the 100 Hatakabb fashion items we introduced are sold out within one hour after we launched," said Soonthon Simavara, managing director of Hatakabb (Sim Tien Hor) Co.
"Who could imagine that a 2,000-baht Hawaiian shirt with the Hatakabb logo would sell so well?"
Nonetheless, Mr Soonthon insisted Hatakabb is not a fashion company and its focus remains only herbal medicine.
"If you ask people over 40 years old, I believe several know the Hatakabb brand. But I am not so sure if you were to ask Thai teenagers," he said.
"We often try to reach out to the younger generation via social media, but it is quite difficult to connect to them. We want to use fashion to link our brand to this target younger generation segment, which remains a very small portion of our business."
Assoc Prof Wilert Puriwat, dean of Chulalongkorn Business School, said the collaboration with Thai fashion designers by the two firms and the pop-up fashion stores at Siam Center are smart schemes to revitalise their brands.
"This makes their brands approachable. Both brands are very strong," said Mr Wilert.
"This collaboration will enhance their brand perception among the younger generation."
The Hatakabb Hawaiian shirt has been flying off the racks.
Snake brand cooling products available at the pop-up shop. Pitsinee Jitpleecheep