Singapore tourist's bizarre love affair with $8 Kmart item
The 31-year-old is obsessed with hi-vis and tradies, and it's turned him into an internet sensation Down Under.
It's an item of clothing synonymous with Australia's blue-collared workers. Costing just $8 at Kmart, you'd struggle to find a tradie who doesn't own a bright orange or yellow hi-vis shirt.
And while the attire can carry with it a stigma that has seen some bars and even pubs ban those wearing the eye-catching clothing, one tourist from Singapore just can't get enough of it.
"He's always loved neon colours so when he started seeing tradies around Australia he was awestruck," Renae Cheng said of her boyfriend Yap Heng Soon.
The couple visited Australia, where Renae grew up, for the first time together in 2022, and Heng Soon wasted no time in getting his hands on some hi-vis gear of his own.
"He couldn't believe that the uniforms are available for anyone to buy," Renae told Yahoo News Australia. "He picked up the orange short sleeve shirt (from Kmart) and that's been his prized possession ever since.
The 31-year-old "eagerly" donned the top and said he'd be overjoyed if Aussie tradies saw him and thought he was "one of them".
"He turns into an excited little kid when he encounters tradies," Renae said.
And his fascination with the shirt extended back home, with Renae revealing he rarely takes the top off.
"He wears it on dates and to go to the office... he prides himself on keeping it in tip-top condition."
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Renae recently shared photos of Heng Soon in his hi-vis to TikTok as part of the Beige Flag trend which sees users expose their partners' quirky and odd habits. The montage quickly went viral with close to one million views – and those who took to the comments section were all in agreement.
"As an Aussie this is sooo cute," one person said.
"Protect that man at all costs," another wrote, while one user described his love affair with hi-vis as "so iconic".
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Renae said the response online had been overwhelming and Heng Soon was "grinning ear to ear" reading all the comments.
"People have told him he's been granted honorary citizenship and he's welcome to their tradie worksites to have an iced coffee, meat pie and ciggie," she revealed. And such an offer may be taken up with Heng Soon, who works as a software engineer, saying he "genuinely" wants to come to Australia to work as a tradie for a few years.
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