Rags2Riches: A fashion brand with a conscience

The new Rags2Riches collection for Spring/Summer 2014 set sail late last month with a light and sunny mix of brunch, bags, artisans, advocates, and even a bit of D-I-Y.

The launch was held in partnership with the new Privato Hotel on Shaw Boulevard which, from its silicon resin exterior right down to the Wataru Sakuma piece in the restaurant, is everything you’d want in a sustainably designed building. It was the perfect setting for an equally sustainable fashion brand like Rags2Riches.

Light and bright, like summer should be
 

Entitled High Seas, the collection features a bright and bold set of everyday carriers for the stylish adventure-seeker. Beach-friendly tote bags with a nautical flavor—stripes—and gold-zippered satchel clutches present the perfect balance between fun and casual vs. elegant and chic.  

Coupled with the launch was a unique workshop that brought R2R artisans, style advocates, and their children together in creating purses of their own—from weaving the material to piecing the panels together.

A long table near the entrance of the room was littered with strands of yarn, sketches, and tools while guests tried their hand at crafting wallets out of scrap material. In one corner, R2R style advocate Jan Chavez-Arceo let her daughter add the finishing touches to their collaborative work.

"I was very challenged,” she said, chuckling as she described her experience at the workshop. “I'm just so happy that Rags2Riches provided the opportunity for my daughter and me to create something together...and it's a beautiful work of art!"

"The artisans and the advocates put together their creations into one product that they can sign together," said R2R president and founding partner, Reese Fernandez-Ruiz. "It's really very symbolic for us that it puts together the people who are making the products and the people who are buying them. I love it! It's so laid-back and relaxed, just like how we wanted it… people just talk to each other, bond and connect." 

What goes into a Rags2Riches bag
 

A Rags2Riches bag starts with its woven portions being made by an artisan at home, explained Fernandez-Ruiz.

“Then we put together the bags in our workshop in San Juan—also by another set of artisans who are more full-time. And there! That sounds fast, but it's actually quite a process."

Veteran R2R artisan and now VP for production Cynthia Cabrera recalled the exact date that Rags2Riches first launched their bags: November 22, 2007.

"Pagdating namin sa Shangri-La, amazed lahat kasi first time na nakahalo ang mga alta de sosyedad," she said. "'Yung emosyon na gustong sumigaw na umiyak na...yung gawa namin, hawak-hawak ng mga model! Nakikita namin kung paano minahal yung ginawa namin."

"Hindi ko akalain na ganito kalaki ang magiging resulta nung pag inumpisahan na namin," she added.

'A platform to lift themselves out of poverty'

Cabrera admitted that at the start, the quality of their work was not as good as it is now.

She was one of five pioneering women who, together with Father Javi, the priest in their community in Payatas, saw the need for them to begin a sustainable livelihood.

They started out with multi-colored rags much like the typical “trapo” sold on the street. The decision to switch to monochromatic schemes and refine the products was influenced by many factors, from the desire to turn a better profit to the game-changing meeting with designer Rajo Laurel, who saw the potential in their woven pieces.

Intensive training, workshops and exposure trips to other fashion brands allowed Cabrera and her fellow artisans to learn to strive for better quality.

"It's an evolution... our artisans started out with very raw skill but very high potential,” said Fernandez-Ruiz.

“It's a lot bigger now. We have a whole team running around and making things happen," she added. "We started out with a very simple mission. We thought it was simple, but it's actually bigger than that. So now that we are here, I can feel that it's really getting there. We are becoming a platform for artisans to lift themselves out of poverty."

Today, Rags2Riches is available in high-end boutiques and department stores here and abroad. It currently trains 900 artisans from several communities in Metro Manila.

Cabrera talked about her dreams for the brand they grew from scrap, saying she longs for the “globalization” of Rags2Riches. She said that the money she makes is secondary to the knowledge she gains every day. "Hindi lang kasi pera yung pinag-uusapan dito. Yung kaalaman na nakukuha namin sa mga trainings at seminars, para sa akin ito yung pinaka number one," she said.

Weaving ‘meaningful, beautiful, empowering’ stories
 

"What I like most about Rags2Riches is the thought that you are able to empower the women of the communities, being able to give them livelihood, being able to help them create such beautiful works of art from ordinary things—things that most people would just disregard or literally consider trash," said Chavez-Arceo, who is one of Rags2Riches’ closest and most loyal advocates. "They're not only fashionable, they're fashion statements...aside from the products being beautiful, very well done, well crafted, once you see the R2R logo on the product, it gives a very strong, powerful statement that captures empowerment, the message of possiblities."

When asked about the future of Rags2Riches, Fernandez-Ruiz said, “We want to be the fashion brand—the fashion house—that artisans can partner with. I feel inspired and I feel like this is going to get bigger and better in time." — BM, GMA News

The High Seas collection is available at the Rags2Riches store in Glorietta 1, Makati.