Innovation

According to a United Nations study, 85% of all textiles go to the dump yearly. Sewing workers are also paid meagre wages for their intensive labour. Working in the garment retail industry during the past decade, Cris experienced firsthand how fast fashion contributes to the world’s pollution and the unfair treatment of factory workers.

Given these social and environmental problems, Cris asked herself, “How can I use fashion as a force for good?” Hence, in 2022, Cris integrated her technical knowledge with her heart for service, creating positive change through her sustainable lifestyle brand, Brave Story. Its Mission is to weave hopeful dreams and create a greener world by repurposing textile waste into meaningful products crafted with love by artisan mothers.

Grounded by purpose and anchored by the compass of their hearts, Brave Story practices slow fashion. The designs are produced in limited quantities with an inclusive size range. The brand’s production is circular, as it only uses fabric scraps. Scraps produce zero waste, as even small fabric scraps fill Brave Story’s stuffed toys.

Cris Roxas with the local artisan mothers

Inspiration

Cris Roxas worked in the retail industry for about a decade until she lost her job during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Cris, “That was the time I was able to reconnect with myself and understand what the most important things are to me.” So, while Cris was decluttering at home, she found some fabric scraps, some of which she had kept since college. Inspired by the nostalgic memory of her maternal grandmother creating patchwork and embroidery pieces for their home, she then tried to repurpose these textiles into pillowcases and tote bags and posted them on social media. Her business partner immediately asked her if she could do some projects together, given the ingenuity of the products she created, and that was how Brave Story began.

“All these patchworks symbolised how I pieced myself together during such a difficult time. Every one of us went through struggles . . . but we chose to keep going, and that is being brave,” mentioned Cris. Because of this, Cris Roxas was appointed to represent the Philippines as a Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Professional Fellows Program (YSEALI PFP) in the United States and as an ASEAN Youth Fellow in Singapore in 2023. For her, “The most important thing to ask yourself is your why – what is your purpose, and why are you doing what you are doing? Artisan mothers telling me, ‘I am grateful for you because you believed in me,’ encourages me to keep going and fuels my purpose.”

Overall impact

Brave Story provides living wages for the artisans while giving them time to care for their families. What sets the brand apart from its contemporaries is the artisan craftsmanship of excellent quality and the premium collections that are globally competitive. Brave Story garments, toys, and decors have found homes in the Philippines, the United States, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic.

With their unique designs and multipurpose functions, these products were given as gifts to ambassadors and diplomats. “It was empowering to receive positive feedback about us from international changemakers and leaders, validating our purpose-driven initiatives that foster the essence of compassion (malasakit).” Moreover, “It speaks a lot about how they believe in Brave Story’s advocacy and in the quality that our brand creates,” said Cris.

Through its sustainable design practices, Brave Story helps lessen environmental waste, uplift the lives of Filipino artisans, preserve traditional crafting techniques, and encourage consumers to be more mindful of their purchases. As of April 2024, Brave Story’s most notable impact metrics include repurposing as much as 700 kg of textile waste and creating livelihoods or jobs for 30 artisan mothers.

Regarding the brand’s indirect impact, Cris also shared that “Brave Story coming in and repurposing the textile wastes of retail manufacturers, it helped raise awareness among these businesses that sustainability is important, thereby creating a shift in their mindset.”

Business benefit

Cris already knew that a business could not be sustainable just by having advocacy; it needs to generate profit to sustain that advocacy; otherwise, it will lead to what we call “dashed dreams—you gave people an opportunity to dream, but because you weren’t able to sustain the business, it only added heartbreaks for them.”

However, during its first year of operations, the business struggled to raise revenues as mostly foreigners bought its products in limited quantities. However, after investing heavily in marketing and promotions and telling a compelling story behind Brave Story’s sustainability innovation, Cris raised funding from various local and international organisations supporting her advocacy.

While Brave Story’s business model is primarily business-to-consumer (B2C), the business can generate higher revenues through these business-to-business (B2B) projects or collaborations. Such collaborations include the United States Embassy in Manila, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore International Foundation, the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative, The Spark Project, the University of the Philippines, the Office of the Quezon City Mayor, and many more.

By investing in goodwill and being a brand of integrity, Cris realised there was a market for such sustainable products, especially when Brave Story started participating in bazaars. Most notably, Kultura Filipino, the most prominent Filipino lifestyle retailer in the country, recently approached Brave Story and would soon begin to carry the brand’s products in its stores. Cris raised as much as PHP400,000 in gross sales from these partnerships and collaborations.

Social and environmental benefit

Besides the direct impact Brave Story has on the environment due to its zero-waste practices, Cris is also a supporter of communities of women. In the first year of operations, Cris attended a program of the local government unit in Quezon City, which connected different creatives and designers to artisans living there. The mayor at that time then ordered kuwagos (owls) to be given as gifts to diplomats in Europe. Because of the quality of Brave Story's work and the potential in what they do, Cris was invited to teach local artisan mothers in Quezon City.

While these mothers initially had livelihood training, they needed to improve in sewing. But Cris comforted them and reassured them that it was okay to make mistakes. According to her, "That is where empowerment comes in. It means a lot when people hear affirmation that you believe in them." Eventually, "they were able to grow as craftsmen because this is a different skill altogether required of them."

The workers are paid as much as PHP50 for one square panel, whereas other businesses would already pay the same amount for one whole garment. These artisan mothers were also proud that the products they make are being shipped to other countries like the United States, France, Germany, Belgium, etc. In fact, one of them even told Cris “pwede pa pala akong mangarap (I could still dream).” And for Cris: "This brand started with my personal brave story, and it expanded to telling the brave stories of the artisans that I work with."

Speaking of Brave Story's products being shipped outside the Philippines, one of the most memorable highlights was when their kuwago stuffed toy was given as a gift to a Ukrainian child—a refugee in the Czech Republic. Cris shared, "If Kuwait was able to give hope to that child, then even if the path of social entrepreneurship is not easy, it is worth doing."

As Cris Roxas's final message, "All of us have our different stories of growth, but the common value that we share is being brave. The people who changed the world are Storytellers. If you want to change the world, tell a story. Together, let us weave hopeful dreams through sustainable fashion and create a greener world as we continue writing the chapters of our Brave Story."

Interview

Cris Roxas, Founder & Creative Director