Tags: Entrepreneurship, Handicrafts
By KC Santos
QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA – Using an imaginative sense of fashion, these entrepreneurs are out to change how people view and use the iconic bayong.
Sosi Bayongs is a line of native bags established by best friends Epety Cabana-Dulay and Nerissa Añonuevo-Subido.
Epety, who came from an established export-inclined family, decided to engage in a separate, more relaxed way of making native bags away from the hustles and technicalities of an exporting venture.
“I really see this as more of a hobby than a business. When my parents closed their export business down, I decided I can use whatever I’ve learned from them and start something new by putting my own identity into it,” recalls Epety who started Sosi Bayongs in the late 1990s.
Epety recalls hoarding retaso and other scrap materials from her aunt’s upholstery shop which she puts together to form patterns.
Epety kept designing and selling her unique bayongs. She was alone in the business until she found a business partner in long time friend, Nerissa, when they saw each other in a high school reunion.
“I remember taking samples of the stylized bayong in my workplace and selling all of them. I found them really sale-able and personally, very unique which was why I fell and love with the idea of sharing in the marketing aspect of the business,” Nerissa says.
Together, the two pitched in ways on how to improve Epety’s craft from inputs from customers they meet in bazaars. “This is why we constantly adjust because buyers have really varied tastes and preferences, especially women,” Nerissa says.
She adds that women have the same level of inexplicable fondness for bags similar to men and automobiles.
“We women, especially those who know good workmanship would like to have one bag in all sorts of colors. By glamorizing the bayong, we show that these are practical yet still very stylish bags which women can use interchangeably with their more expensive bags,” Nerissa says.
The bags are crafted using mixed weaving, cutting, hand sewing, and layering techniques. Nerissa says the stylized bayongs are huge hits among balikbayans and working mothers. Both Epety and Nerissa see their product as a visual yet very functional to those who yearn for something different.
“This product is definitely for those who have unique tastes and for hardworking people who turn to bag-hunting or shopping to relieve stress,” Nerissa says.
The Sosi Bayongs come in different shades and patterns and are very functional. There’s the Bora or Beach Bag which is perfect for your summer essentials, the Document Bag and Laptop Bag for the busy bodies, Hand Bags and Kikay Bags for those who have youthful tastes and the Box-style Bags for that classy look.
The bags are sold for only 300 to 550 pesos. Epety says they want to overhaul women’s perception of the bayong by changing its look. “It also feels to good knowing that I’ve made a difference by recycling,” she says.
Get more information about Sosi Bayongs
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