Innovation

Terra Philippines was created from a school project for an entrepreneurship class back in 2017, and their innovative idea for their design was greatly inspired by the scattered coconut husks outside their school campus. The owners were determined to turn these by-products into something useful, and therefore incorporated the coconut coir material as accents for their design. Terra Philippines also strictly integrates Filipino culture in their designs while still maintaining a modern look for their brand. The business’s model of repurposing coconut waste and overrun fabrics, and transforming it into wearable pieces is one of the highlights of their innovation. Through their products, they aim to raise awareness on both environmental sustainability and eco-fashion, furthering the movement of “slow” fashion.

“We noticed that there are scattered coconut husks outside our school campus. Determined to turn these by-products into something useful, we incorporated the coconut coir material as accents for our design.”

Porsha Mangilit, Co-Owner of Terra Philippines

Terra Philippines was created from a school project for an entrepreneurship class back in 2017, their innovative idea for their design was greatly inspired by the scattered coconut husks outside their school campus. It aims to raise awareness on both environmental sustainability and eco-fashion, furthering the movement of “slow” fashion.

It strictly integrates Filipino culture in their design while maintaining modern look for their brand. The owners were determined to turn these by-products into something useful, and therefore incorporated the coconut coir material as accents for their design. The business’s model of repurposing coconut waste and overrun fabrics, and transforming it into wearable pieces is one of the highlights of their innovation.

Inspiration

The owners of Terra Philippines are greatly giving credit to the coconut juice vendor infront of their school as their inaugural brand offering was greatly influenced by coconut coirs from the said vendor. Additionally, the owners also mention how they noticed that there were scattered coconut husks outside their campus, to which they were inspired to repurpose this waste into something useful. They also stated that the brand is also inspired by their surroundings, art, film, or any media they consume with the goal or raising awareness on environmental sustainability and eco-fashion in mind. The owners acknowledge that fast fashion is a prominent issue in today’s society and want to fill the gap of the problem by creating a product that is sustainable, environmentally-friendly, and fashionable. In this regard, Terra Philippines envisions a modern-meets-native take on designing fashion that highlights Filipino culture but blends with the evolving present times.

“Since our team are all-girls, we share a passion for fashion. Despite our different styles, we all agree that fast fashion is a prominent problem in the industry and moving towards slow and sustainable fashion can only happen if we consider materials and fabrics that are environmentally sustainable.”

Porsha Mangilit, Co-Owner of Terra Philippines

Overall impact

Since its establishment in 2017, Terra Philippines has joined and won awards in an international business competition for young entrepreneurs, and has been featured in different print, radio and TV platforms across the country. Furthermore, the business has partnered with Emphorium, a Filipino-owned company in the US promoting Philippine products to the US market, as well as have developed partnerships with Manila Fame as an online exhibitor. Through their operations, they are able to provide a positive impact towards various communities that they partner with; such as providing livelihood to farmers, and providing a sustainable alternative to fashion pieces, such as hand bags. According to one of the owners, the impact that they want to leave is not an afterthought for their business, but rather intentionally integrated into their model, implemented through specific project management methods and quantified by objective key results.

“We carefully thought of how we can measure these small impacts throughout our value chain and we do so through OKRs and other project management methods.”

Porsha Mangilit, Co-Owner of Terra Philippines

Business benefit

The main products that Terra Philippines offers are eco-fashion pieces, with their flagship product being their “The Isla” bag piece, a bag made out of coconut coir, recycled fabric and faux leather. While they are sustainable, eco-friendly , and committed to integrating humanistic principles into their business, they remain profitable through their unique selling point of their bags, their brand, and their story. Terra Philippines uses various channels to sell their products: this includes their social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram, e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, and Manila Fame Plus.

“Having a good product is key to profitability but we also believe that the story behind our products is what makes it stand out from others. When people know more about your core values, causes and how you integrate them into your business process and products, it’s easier for them to connect with you and support your brand.

Porsha Mangilit, Co-Owner of Terra Philippines

Additionally, aside from their unique selling point, the business also has a strong corporate social responsibility model, wherein their CSR is designed to be part of the product design and production process, thus making it easier for Terra Philippines to implement their cause for environmental sustainability. Furthermore, the business plans to grow by moving towards the international market and introduce our products to patrons abroad. Currently, their progress on scaling can be seen through their partnerships with overseas organizations. However, one of the major challenges that the business faces is the drop in demand for fashion and apparel; due to this, Terra Philippines is diversifying and exploring new markets to tap into, as their product is very niche.

Social and environmental benefit

Terra Philippines are making societal efforts by strictly partnering with local sewers and farmers for sourcing the needed materials to earn more sustainable livelihood through their business, and their source are notably actively involved in the production process of their products. The company also have a great working relationship with other local suppliers and manufacturers to ensure the technical direction of their concepts and designs. Through their partnerships, they are able to provide livelihood to communities in need, such as farmers, local workers, and even small to medium enterprises, thus uplifting the people of these communities and the local economy.

“We provide jobs and small projects for local workers and make sure our products are 100% Filipino made. We believe in mobilizing SMEs over larger companies and prefer to work with them and support their services.”

Porsha Mangilit, Co-owner of Terra Philippines

Furthermore, Porsha believes that Terra is adhering to any actions in helping to achieve environmental sustainability for their business considering that eco-fashion and sustainability is notably marked in Terra’s identity. The concrete goal to be 100% environmentally sustainable is also in-lined with their passion for slow and sustainable fashion by considering the right materials and fabrics that can go hand-in-hand with executing a unique eco-fashion piece for Filipinas. Through their products, Terra Philippines is able to create a beneficial impact towards the environment by upcycling waste from coconuts and transforming it into wearable fashion products, thus closing the cycle of waste and promoting circular waste management.

Interview

Porsha Mangilit, Co-founder