Fun and functional: 5 Filipino bag brands to watch out for
Whether you’re in one of Metro Manila’s trendy neighborhoods or on a bike trail in one of the country’s many islands, you’ll come across a familiar flash of color. It speeds past you, but you don’t miss it. You never miss clocking a cool bag.
Bags are often touted as either status symbols or tools for bringing items from point A to point B. Honestly, bags today even take a backseat with all the knick-knacks dangling from them. However, there’s a rare breed of bag that acts as both a tool and a work of art.
These 5 Filipino brands show what happens when form meets function. Their bags don’t merely hold everything in one’s life. They also embody and epitomize said life. And the results are pretty gnarly.
Carry Om
Viktoria Salazar and Dhanvan Saulo didn’t plan to design bags together. Though Salazar is an industrial designer and Saulo’s father, Yadu Saulo, founded Khumbmela in the 1970s, the couple busied themselves with their restaurants, Cosmic and Gnostic. Saulo’s family thought of restarting the bag business, but didn’t have a clear direction until Salazar came into the fold.
“I had cancer, and I wanted to give a thank you gift to my classmates who organized a fun run for me in Iloilo,” Salazar says. What started as a thank-you bag has evolved into Carry Om’s signature style today. “I posted a photo of the bag online. People liked it and wanted to buy it.”
Carry Om’s customers, fondly called “Ommies,” love these bags’ organic silhouettes and unique colorways, thanks to leftover fabric in factories. “Instead of operating like large manufacturers where they dictate a particular color, we see a color in deadstock and respond to it,” explains Saulo. Working with available deadstock promotes sustainability by limiting Carry Om’s colorways. Once a colorway is gone, it’s gone for good.
“I do not want to conform to the norm of fast fashion, where a specific colorway is only available in summer or winter,” says Salazar. “I do not target [what’s] uso.”
Sack It
Marvin Corpuz started on four wheels before riding two. The bag designer and maker started creating bags for the skateboarding community in the early 2000s before eventually branching out to cyclists and bikers. In 2012, Corpuz decided to call his operation Sack It.
“Nauna kong ginawang bag ay Board Sack. Yung shape niya parang sack ng bigas,” says Corpuz. “Na-isip ko, bakit hindi nalang Sack It ang brand ko.”
Now, Corpuz splits his time between spending time with his family, going on bikepacking trips around the country, and crafting bags for Sack It. Cyclists of every sort love Corpuz’s bags for their effortlessly cool designs and durability. Corpuz uses ripstop, X-Pac, and PU fabric to handle almost anything, except blending in.
“Gusto ko talaga makulay, lalo na kung ginagamit sa kalsada,” he explains. “Ang makulay ng bag ko, imposible na hindi mo ako napansin!”
Bows & Everything Nice
Thanks to balletcore and coquettecore, bows took over everyone’s feeds for a few months last year. Though deemed by many to be a microtrend, Gwen Buelos knows they’re here to stay.
Buelos learned how to sew by watching TikTok videos and made custom clothes for herself and her friends soon after. “I begged my dad to get me a sewing machine,” she says. “We found one secondhand and he picked it up with his motorcycle, driving with one hand and holding the machine with the other.”
She created her first canvas bow bag, posted the process of making it online, and found her first customer. Friends and family members then started asking for her designs. Buelos sourced suppliers to scale production and brought her friend, Erica De Luna, into the business as a partner.
Bows & Everything Nice carries its signature Hobobow bag in both canvas and cloud styles, across different colors. But don’t let its dainty appearance fool you; the hobobow bag is a workhorse. Each bag has multiple pockets, a keyring, and a water bottle holder. “My design philosophy is that a bag should be as pretty as it is practical.”
Project Nova
Visiting the Philippines’ many islands often comes with a cost—just ask kayak guide Rey Donaire. In 2019, Donaire and his partner at Kayakasia, Cher Huey Sim, looked for artisans and manufacturers to re-purpose decommissioned inflatable kayaks. “We needed to align the end-of-life of these kayaks with the conservation message we share with our clients and community,” shares Donaire.
The pandemic slowed down tourism, giving Donaire time for what would become Project Nova. Unable to find a manufacturer, Donaire turned to the local community to craft bags and accessories out of old kayaks.
“We deliberately chose handcrafting over machines because it allowed us to employ more community members from our kayaking operations during the pandemic,” says Donaire.
Now, Project Nova produces bags that could withstand both natural and urban elements. Donaire and his team also received a grant from the Heartefino Foundation to process bottle caps collected during river and coastal cleanups.
Baybayin Bags
While catching his breath after biking, Iann Villamor noticed how plain the majority of bike bags are. During the lockdown, he shared his idea to make colorful bags with partner Kath Madrid, since Madrid’s mom has a small tailoring business. Though Madrid only learned how to bike after the pandemic, she saw the potential in Villamor’s idea and agreed.
Today, Villamor and Madrid manage Baybayin Bags and have since branched out from their biking origins to more general lifestyle bags with their quintessential color-blocking. “Our philosophy is that the bags should naturally work with our lives,” says Villamor. “Our bags have so many pockets because Kath likes organizing.”
Now, the two are preparing new designs and colorways. Their excitement for Baybayin Bags bleeds into the local design scene as a whole. “You should go check out all the local brands because they are fire,” shares Villamor. “This is the golden era, I think, for local goods.”
