A campaign with the hashtag #FilipinoFashionFridays encourages people to wear something Filipino-made before posting their images on social media. A brainchild of the Philippine Fashion Coalition, the campaign hopes to instill awareness and nationalism among Filipinos through fashion, while helping boost the ailing industry hit hard by the pandemic.
By Alex Y. Vergara
As designer JC Buendia, one of the prime movers of the newly formed Philippine Fashion Coalition (PFC), shares with PeopleAsia, settling on a name for the group’s first-ever social media campaign to promote Filipino fashion and, in effect, give an important but ailing industry a much-needed boost, initially and unwittingly revealed its organizers’ ages.
With such dated, funny and, at least, to a huge number of millennials and Gen Zs, head-scratching hashtags as #KabuganFridays, #BonggaKaDay, #PormangPinoyFridays, #DamitPinoy, #GayakPinoy, #FabulousFridayFilipinos, #TGIF and #ThankGodItsFilipino, the campaign, which was launched exactly a week ago on Facebook and Instagram, was off to a rather outdated start.
“That was until we finally agreed to call the effort #FilipinoFashionFridays,” says an amused JC. “Envisioned as a tool to bring attention to Filipino fashion, the campaign encourages people to dress up in unique Filipino-designed garb in order to establish consciousness for Philippine-made products and services every single Friday.”
Fridays only
Images, either objects in the form of locally made apparel and accessories or selfies and posed shots of people wearing these objects, may be uploaded on Facebook or Instagram every Friday, from noon to 6 p.m., with a standard caption and that all-important hashtag. They need not dress local from head to toe. Wearing at least one to two Philippine-made items will do.
“The idea is to get people excited about wearing Filipino design while making Fridays a day to look forward to,” says JC.
“The social media campaign highlights the need to raise awareness that if we support the local fashion industry, it might give it the boost it needs to survive,” adds fashion show director and fellow PFC prime mover Jackie Aquino.
In the absence of big events like weddings and with malls doing badly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fashion industry, both couture and ready to wear, continues to bleed. A number of newbie designers have had to close shop, while more established names have been left with no choice but to indefinitely furlough employees. Making face masks and PPEs, whether hospital-grade or more for fashion, have somewhat augmented the incomes of not a few designers, but revenues from such sources aren’t enough to make businesses thrive since they offer minimal profit margins.
The scenario is also far from rosy for a growing number of retail brands, which have had to close a good number of branches and lay off personnel over the past few months due to slow sales.
Campaign’s genesis
The genesis behind the campaign happened a couple of weeks ago when Jackie and JC, together with other PFC prime movers such as Carissa Evangelista, Len Cabili and Carmina Jacob, were throwing ideas on how to best promote and make Philippine fashion relevant and accessible among the grassroots. They were all hoping that wearing something local would soon become law.
At the same time, however, they want the effort to be organic—something no law could summon or foster, as wearing local would soon be seen as simply another requirement one needs to comply with to avoid any likely legal consequences.
“Then JC pointed out that there’s already an existing directive among people working in government to wear something Filipino every Monday,” says Jackie. One thing led to another, until they finally settled on a social media campaign for Filipinos to literally wear their nationalism before striking a pose. With the help of Carmina and stylist Pam Quiñones, who both thought of a more apt and accessible name for the social media campaign, #FilipinoFashionFridays was born.
At the end of any given Friday, PFC will choose from the best of the day’s properly tagged posts before sharing it on its official platform. The winner will get a prize. Famous people, including PFC’s influencers, are ineligible from taking part in the contest.
Gaining traction
With only a week to test the waters, PFC has started to see its effort gain some traction, says Jackie. Organizers hope that it soon becomes a habit among Filipinos to wear something local every Friday during this bleak period and beyond. Who knows? The habit might catch on and become an everyday routine among fashion-conscious and nationalistic Filipinos both here and abroad.
“Our hope is for it to really gain traction organically,” says Jackie. “Posting on social media your Filipino-made fashion—be it a face mask, top, or full ensemble—makes it already a statement of your support for Filipino fashion. Philippine-made means literally made in the Philippines.”
Apart from their desire to help save the fashion industry, organizers are buoyed by their belief in the Filipino. By celebrating the fact that a piece of accessory or article of clothing is localized or community-based, they hope that such an impetus would encourage more people to go back, examine their roots and start from there.
The move also goes beyond boosting the bottom line. Through such an effort, PFC also hopes to persevere the country’s cultural heritage, a form of “soft power” that the country can use as it moves forward.
“Take Korea, for example, and how they’ve used their culture starting some 20 years ago,” says Jackie. “Now, they’re reaping all the success with K-pop and K-drama as prime examples.”
Finding their footing
But despite the lack of government support, the country’s designers are slowly finding their footing in their efforts to put a local or nationalistic stamp in whatever they do, including the making of face masks and fashion PPEs. Such companies as Kaayo, for instance, have been incorporating local weaves, beadwork and even embroidery to their protective gear.
“The demand is there,” says Jackie. “They’re doing this not only to stand out and be more relevant. They need to keep their businesses afloat and somehow save the jobs of their skilled workforce.”
Some people would probably think that such a move is another classic example of too little, too late, but people behind PFC believes that there’s no such thing as being too late. The important thing is to start somewhere. And the only accessible and highly visible platform in creating awareness for the industry right now is social media.
“This campaign is geared towards planting the seed in helping change the mindset of Filipinos,” says Jackie. “We hope that this will translate into making the local fashion industry more sustainable.”
It may sound like a tall order, but such is their faith in the Filipino. Organizers also view it as a rare and noble opportunity to give back to the country while promoting its culture. A culture that will continue to define the Filipino as he or she moves forward and beyond this global health crisis.
