Innovation

Being in the fashion industry is challenging due to the constant rise of new brands or clothing lines. However, innovation and ingenuity are vital factors that define ANGKAN as a purpose-driven social enterprise. Carol de Leon, the brand's creative director, developed her sensibilities for novelty and consciousness after her grueling years in the fast-paced fashion industry. She seized the opportunity to establish ANGKAN at the right time since slow fashion and handmade pieces generate increased demand amid the global bid for sustainability. "They need innovation in design so that their products can be more sellable in the domestic market and abroad. That's the innovation and design I was bringing out through ANGKAN," said De Leon. Her novelty assisted the operations of Angkan through indigenous communities and, ultimately, the success of the social enterprise.

ANGKAN aspires to be a fashion brand that achieves a Circular Economy by integrating slow fashion into their social enterprise, highlighting the designs and pieces made in collaboration with Filipino indigenous tribes. Parlaying from that, another innovation that separates ANGKAN from other fashion lines is that they offer a global platform for artisans to present their work and earn profits. Creating this platform for artisans establishes a circular economy within the business that benefits everyone involved. The brand highlights traditional Filipino folklore designs with a mix of De Leon's creative expertise in a showroom that anyone can purchase online.

Inspiration

De Leon established ANGKAN after her experiences working in the fashion industry in various countries across the globe for over 20 years, specifically in the fast fashion market. Fast fashion is known to harm the environment due to the different materials that affect the emission of greenhouse gasses, water, energy, and even the depletion of non-renewable sources. Throughout her work in the fast-fashion industry, she developed a deeper understanding of the fashion market. Originating in the Philippines as a migrant to the United States of America, she realized that third-world countries like the Philippines need help and bear great potential in the country's fashion industry.

With this, the idea of creating ANGKAN sparked as the Philippines needed innovation in design for the products to be able to sell in the local and international market for a wide range of consumers. De Leon said, "the atmosphere in the fashion industry was accepting of the slow fashion and handmade things, which is what I thought the Philippines could do." However, above all else, De Leon wanted to ensure that ANGKAN would thrive as a brand grounded in sustainability, as she is a designer who wants to make both creative and environment-friendly fashion for Filipinos.

ANGKAN first started as a jewelry line in collaboration with a jewelry manufacturer that admired her work. The ANGKAN energy cuffs were the first on the shelf, giving a clean 70's look while bearing symbolism for higher consciousness and deepening intentions. "It is important that we not only do things and create things for profit but also think about social responsibility," De Leon said. From there, ANGKAN evolved from a limited edition jewelry line to what it is now through an opportunity she received to work with indigenous communities via the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the Philippines.

Working with them helped De Leon develop a network with the cultural masters of these indigenous tribes from Abra. Tasked to collaborate with indigenous communities on a fashion project, she backpacked to the remote locations where they live, taught them modern handiwork, and developed appealing designs based on their traditional attire to bring livelihood to their communities.

Overall impact

ANGKAN works with native and indigenous tribes regarding the creation process of their products. De Leon mentioned that she pushed these communities to do something different. The native community partners of ANGKAN were taught new designs with the change of colors and the addition of new patterns. Many online consumers have started to notice the brand because they were proud to support the indigenous communities. They also liked the designs since they were fresh and something they hadn't seen before. De Leon's flourishing partnership with the tribes to develop ANGKAN supports Sustainable Development Goal #4.5 by ensuring that indigenous people have access to vocational training.

All the government-sponsored programs that the indigenous tribes were to perform got canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this, they had little to no money as they did not have a means of livelihood, especially with the tourism industry coming to a complete halt. However, one of the immediate impacts of ANGKAN was to provide them with a partnership that gave them a livelihood. "The short-term effect for the indigenous and marginalized communities as they were able to do something with their hands and earn money." With this, the tribes could buy rice and provide for their families amid the pandemic. "A long-term impact is that they absorbed my design sensibility, so they could now apply the different colorways we use," she continues. Thus, ANGKAN tackles Sustainable Development Goal #8: Decent Work and Economic Growth because the tribes can use their culture and talent to develop a long-term profitable venture.

Business benefit

ANGKAN has been keeping its enterprise sustainable, from a business point of view, from their sales. Their innovative designs gained popularity among people due to creating a demand for pieces made by the indigenous tribes despite the low quantity.

"Business-wise, I really wanted to scale it up," De Leon said; this is one of the goals of De Leon for the ANGKAN, and they are on the way to that goal step-by-step. A massive step that De Leon shared with the interviewers was how a new hotel contacted them to use their indigenous textiles. ANGKAN is closer to entering tourism, which can highlight her social enterprise's vision. Exposure to more and more Filipinos, this brand can help bring out even more demand for the ingenuity that the organization and indigenous tribes put out. These opportunities will allow the introduction of the advocacy that ANGKAN has, which is to "support local communities" while allowing ANGKAN to enter a different realm in the fashion world.

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Social and environmental benefit

In line with their commitment to sustainably-made slow fashion, ANGKAN takes pride in upcycling tonnes of waste fabric from secondary markets across the Philippines. These unwanted textiles often have stains or flaws and are typically dumped by large fabric manufacturers worldwide, primarily in China. To breathe new life into these fabrics, ANGKAN creates designs that intentionally work around the fabric's imperfections, giving their handiwork a more personal touch since no two pieces are identical. Their partner artisans also follow a strictly all-natural dyeing process using locally-found ingredients, such as Philippine Indigo from the Abra region. Following the tribe's dyeing process ensures no ill effect on the environment, even when the fabrics are washed and dyed in flowing river streams. As said by De Leon, "we're able to find a use for these textiles that other people or companies have discarded. We give it new life, that is regeneration and working cyclically."

More than advocating for greener production practices, ANGKAN is a social enterprise born from the Filipino value of pakikipagkapwa, or compassion for our communities. At the height of the pandemic, ANGKAN reached out to the cultural masters of the indigenous tribes that De Leon collaborated with for her previous design project series with the DTI to see how their communities were faring. According to her, the lockdown restrictions posed new difficulties for the tribes as they struggled to find livelihoods during the pandemic. The heightened COVID-19 restrictions in the Philippines prevented the communities from performing their cultural shows in Manila – their primary source of income – where they would typically sell their handcrafted goods after their dances. Inspired by her prior work with DTI, De Leon partnered with these communities to create ANGKAN by entrusting their artisans with her fresh fashion designs. As a result, the tribes were able to increase their earnings steadily. ANGKAN reports that their cultural masters have earned six-fold the pay since starting the business in 2019.

Furthermore, the artisans learn from ANGKAN's design sensibilities, colorways, and production processes. Hence, they are starting to establish business ventures solely manned by community members. Through the training they received under ANGKAN's wing, they can now explore their distinctive styles while promoting self-generated economic growth and technical innovation.

However, ANGKAN continues to shine bright through its global reach, thanks to the root of its design's imagery in Filipino folklore and the brand's commitment to sustainable advocacies. As their sales rose, so did the messages of appreciation from Filipinos worldwide, who proudly donned ANGKAN fashion to connect with their homeland. "People were connecting, and then I started to dialogue with some customers. I find that many customers were proud to support the indigenous communities, and they also really liked the designs and that they were nice and fresh, that they hadn't seen these kinds of designs before. Filipinos were proud to wear something representing their culture," said De Leon. To this extent, ANGKAN proves itself not only as a sustainable fashion brand but also as a tool for cultural sustainability for the Filipino diaspora.

Interview

Carol de Leon, Creative Director