Justyn Symmond Santiago
Hanz Ty
Lorenzo Buncayo
Jacinto III Fajardo
De La Salle University Manila
Pia Manalastas
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Retaso’s products and business practices fall under 5 sustainability development goals, which are SDG 8, 12, 13, 14, and 15. Through the brand’s main practice of sustainable product manufacturing, they are able to contribute to the conservation of the environment and lessen waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reusing. In addition, their initiative creates working opportunities to people in different communities in Metro Manila.
Retaso’s innovation targets local communities to incorporate waste-led design to conserve the environment and preserve the Filipino culture. In an interview with Retaso’s Secretariat, Marketing and PR Head, Miss Hannah Garcia, she states that “the innovation includes finding value and purpose in what is being thrown away, essentially redesigning the use of waste.” Retaso refines, upcycles, and repurposes textile and plastic waste to create regenerative design solutions. The brand partners with small Filipino-owned businesses to manufacture the said products. Each Retaso bag is constructed using scrap fabric donated and collected by local fashion businesses and communities. Then, it is handcrafted by young women in the Philippine cities of Pasig, Caloocan, and Bulacan. As a slow fashion brand, Retaso produces a limited number of bags on a per-batch basis. Once all the bags for each batch are completely sold out, consumers will have to wait for their following collection as they do not reproduce the same design. The Retaso team has built a strong online presence using social media outlets, primarily Instagram. Retaso products are currently only being sold online, and the delivery location is limited to the Philippines. Retaso’s team takes pride in constantly seeking innovative solutions with the goal of experimenting with the countless ways they can repurpose waste, whether through the production of bags, clothes, etc.
Retaso’s founders have always been fond of leading non-profit organizations that tackle various social issues. “Retaso, meaning scrap fabric in Filipino, is an initiative which aims to find value in what has been thrown away.” In 2019, the company’s founders were enlightened about how much scrap fabric was produced yearly and how serious the textile waste issue has become, especially in the Philippines. With this in mind, Retaso was created to help solve the problem of plastic and textile waste. They realized that even with only scrap fabrics or “retasos” from local brands, they could repurpose these and turn them into products with newfound value.
Moreover, with the founders immersed in tackling various social issues in the country, they thought of incorporating such textile issues with casual cultural practices. An example of this is integrating “basahan” weaving or turning rags into fashion. During our interview, Miss Garcia mentioned that “weaving has always been part of the Filipino culture as generations of indigenous folks have passed down countless weaving styles and traditions that are still being used today.” That being said, Retaso embraces the Filipino culture in upcycling things and being resourceful, thus deciding to make rugs out of Retaso material. The fight against these environmental and social issues continuously inspires Retaso’s team to formulate innovative avenues to address these problems.
Every year, over 13 million metric tons of textile waste are dumped into landfills in developing nations and into our oceans, which endangers ecosystems and marine life that are essential for the survival of our home planet. Retaso’s efforts aim to improve the quality of life in our communities by experimenting with and repurposing waste into regenerative design solutions; this business practice helps prevent litter from ending up in our environment. Retaso’s innovation aims to alleviate the plastic and textile waste problem in the Philippines. Beyond this, Retaso also aims to raise awareness among consumers and other companies to incorporate sustainable practices until circularity becomes a norm in society.
In the short-term outlook, Miss Garcia shares that “Retaso strives to provide alternative sustainable solutions to society through their circular products.” While in the long-term perspective, they “focus on providing more green job opportunities to local communities and reducing the plastic and textile waste problem in the Philippines.”
Retaso’s business model revolves around their commitment to their vision and mission, for waste to be a greatly desired resource and to empower local communities to incorporate waste-led design so that circularity becomes the new norm of the product industry. Miss Garcia explains that “the whole innovation of using used textile and plastic waste to produce new products is the backbone of the business–it is essentially what the brand is built around.” The founders and Retaso’s team have established the brand not to simply make a profit but to make an impact through their innovation of upcycling waste into regenerative design solutions. As such, the company can be categorized as a purpose-driven ecosystem who's core business is to magnify its positive impact. That said, the company’s main revenue streams are from selling its upcycled woven bags.
SDG #12: Responsible Consumption and Production; SDG #13: Climate Action; SDG #14: Life Below Water; SDG #15: Life on Land
Retaso's foundation is built around its sustainable innovation and practices. Since the company repurposes and upcycles waste into new products, Retaso collects raw materials needed from local brands and communities, which contributes to circularity in its production process. Miss Garcia explains that "each bag contains 72 pieces of upcycled plastic and 1.78 yards of textile waste." Hence, for every 100 bags produced, Retaso saves approximately 7,200 pieces of plastic and 18 m2 of textile.
The company also aims to raise consumers' and other businesses' awareness that our actions impact one another, encouraging everyone to follow suit, practice circularity, and establish waste as a greatly desired resource.
SDG #8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
Miss Garcia also shares that "Retaso promotes decent work and economic growth to local communities in Bulacan, Caloocan, and Pasig city by providing green jobs–jobs that are good for the environment." These jobs include seamsters, seamstresses, embroiderers, and plastic recyclers.
Overall, Retaso embraces various Sustainable Development Goals that support the livelihood of communities while also reducing wastage in our environment and oceans through advocating circularity and sustainability.
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Retaso was founded in 2019 as an initiative to help solve textile waste in the Philippines. Every product produced is made up of 98-100% recycled plastic and waste. The company aims to continue partnering with various local brands and designers to be able to lessen, even by a little, the textile waste that may end up in our oceans.
