When it comes to fashion, it helps to love local. Patronizing sustainable and ethical fashion brands not only means championing the manifold skills and talents of the Filipino; you are also supporting the relevant causes they stand for and hold dear.
We've rounded up four sustainable and ethical fashion brands made by Filipinos for you to check out, and you can bet your peso that these brands are paving the way to encourage more Filipinos to make the better choice for society and the planet.
Rags2Riches
Rags2Riches, co-founded by Reese Fernandez-Ruiz, started in 2007 with the mission to empower and lift Filipino artisans out of poverty. It began in Payatas, one of the biggest urban poor communities in the country, and involved mostly women artisans who made rugs from scrap fabric for a living.
R2R stands by four principles: designing with intention, utilizing sustainable materials, creating long-lasting products and empowering trade. Today, R2R has grown into a fashion and design company that continues to empower the lives of Filipino artisans. It offers a diverse range of products like bags, accessories, face masks, clothing, and home and living essentials like pillows, pillowcases, and planters.
RIOtaso
RIOtaso — a play on the term "retaso" (scrap fabric) and its founder's name, Rio Estuar — would not have been possible if Estuar didn't shut down her former clothing brand, Kalye RIO in 2018.
As per Estuar, she experienced a breakdown over her own business's complicity in fabric waste, so she closed down Kalye RIO, left the city, and learned to live sustainably in a small beach town community.
RIOtaso is her sustainable fashion brand, which creates unique pieces out of curated fabric waste from the fashion industry. If you're someone who loves fashion, you'll find pleasure in the groovy patterns and designs of RIOtaso's tops, bottoms, bucket hats, and bags (some of which are made from the curtains of Estuar’s mom!)
Lazy Fare and Lucy in the Sky
Lazy Fare and Lucy in the Sky is another eco-ethical brand whose mission is to create products with a low carbon footprint. With this philosophy, Lazy Fare and Lucy in the Sky only uses materials sourced from deadstock and overrun fabric from garment mills.
Comfort and impact are top of mind when it comes to creating their clothing, which are currently manufactured in one size. Doing away with all the bells and whistles, Lazy Fare and Lucy in the Sky focuses on timeless and minimalist clothing such as tank tops, shorts, joggers, and tees in solid colors.
TELAstory
Last on this list, but not the least, is TELAstory Collective, whose commitment lies in the conviction that fashion is political. It prides itself as a worker-led collective focused on achieving more power and better profit for the country's garment workers. They create clothes out of biodegradable, locally-made textiles and deadstock fabric, and pay their workers a true living wage based on research by the Asia Floor Wage.
Apart from selling their own pieces, TELAstory also helps small brands looking into sustainable production by providing pattern grading, sample making, and cut and sew services. One of TELAstory's clients is Sunki, a woman-led sustainable fashion brand in Manila whose timeless linenwear are sewn by TELAstory's seamstresses.
