Trickie Lopa, Esme Palaganas, and Seph Bagasao
The PhX Fashion Group began in 2019 when Esme Palaganas, Seph Bagasao and Trickie Lopa got together with the idea to help fashion designers grow their businesses. The first PHx Fashion Conference was held the same year, focusing on getting brands ready for the Japanese market, in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry and the PTTC (Philippine Trade Training Center).
“When the pandemic happened, we were the first group who tried to put things in order because we had already built up a community. Through a conference, we came together to talk about the pandemic, experiences, and what everybody was going through. This was in May, and by August people realized that fashion business could go on,” explains Lopa in an interview with TheDiarist.ph. In December, DTI’s CITEM decided to put those who had joined the original fashion conference under a mentorship process that could eventually lead them to shows in Tokyo. They asked PhX to organize events.
“This led to our next project, when the eight designers who underwent the mentorship process were ready to send their things to Tokyo Fashion week. But we were all under lockdown and the only way the interested audience could see what the designers were working on were through our events called PHX Fashion Previews.”
Designers were able to show their vision for Tokyo Fashion Week in a community of about 500 people.
Novel Worldwide
In 2022, PhX tasked the designers to join the MaArte Fair, showing what they had made for Tokyo Fashion Week. For Lopa, one of the founders of Art Fair Philippines, PhX at MaArte was a coming together of her two worlds, art and fashion. Palaganas, an educator, says, “Prior to PhX, I hosted pop-ups and went to fashion shows.” Bagasao has had a busy career as a fashion designer for eight years before PhX, presenting his collections in shows here and in Malaysia, and selling these in stores.
APARA
Joseph Bagasao
HAMU
The mission of the PhX Fashion Group is to foster a business environment for brands and designers through education and market incubation. “I think it’s just lately that a younger market is exploring this ready-to-wear world. We’ve seen it in fairs in the Philippines, and we want to cultivate a more global aspect. It’s very different to operate locally and be prepared globally. The cycle for PHX is that we want to be continuous, and have creative businesses that are sustainable, not just because of the materials itself, but in business operations. It starts with education in the fashion conferences. And then we want them to put theory in practice,” says Palaganas. “We ask our peers, like stylists and editors, if the brands have potential. So Phx is also kind of like a peer review.”
Jill Lao
PhX is also partnering with schools such as SoFA Design Institute and De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde. They choose one student from each school and the student goes through an incubation process where PhX checks the quality of the merchandise and guides the student through the business process.
PhX Fashion Group’s PhX Station opens today, October 20, at Greenbelt 5, with its first set of designers. November and December will showcase other designers. Among the designers and brands included are Alexie Nethercott, Aire, Apara, Bagasáo, HA.MU, Idyllic Summers, Jerome Lorico, Jill Lao, Jude Macasinag, Kelvin Morales, Le Ngok, Liliana Manahan, Neil Felipp, Nicolo, Novel, Randolf and Renz Reyes.
Alexie
“At PhX Fashion Station, we’re giving each label the opportunity to host branded events in the course of the run at Greenbelt. So it’s going to be very dynamic, with shopping events, brand events, just so everybody gets a feel of what it’s like to be part of the community and also to help propagate their brands, to help people get to know who they are,” explains Lopa.
Liliana Manahan
Le Ngok
Jill Lao
The PhX Fashion Conference will be held mid-November and includes Norman Rene de Vera, designer at AZ Factory, and TFC Press founder Philippe Terrien and his wife, former fashion editor, Giselle Go. “Businesses, especially creatives, don’t have time to sit down and reflect what their business looks like. We’re going to address that in the conferences, as well as trade in the international market and brand identity and intellectual property,” says Palaganas.
PHx Fashion Conference 2023 lineup of speakers and panelists
