Fashion and thrifting in the Philippines

An interview with source.ph

If you’ve been following the secondhand designer space for a while, you might know that running a resale store isn’t just the act of buying cheap and selling high. In some cases, it requires full time involvement and attention. source.ph is one of those examples of projects whose founder pours his heart out into every stage of the process, from sourcing, researching, writing and selling — working around the clock to ensure everything aligns to his vision. And it shows. He nevertheless had the time to satisfy our curiosity, and we picked his brain for a good hour to know more about his story, vision, fashion culture in the Philippines and what’s planned for the future.

Kurb

What brought you to fashion? 

source.ph

Well, by this time I've been selling for around six years now, doing things such as researching, photographing everything, and even sourcing. So fashion is my livelihood; it’s in my blood and it runs my daily life. When I started, I just wanted to have my own clothes. The thing is, thrifting in the Philippines is quite necessary, so to speak. It's not just a hobby or thing you do on the weekends, It's a necessity. I don't know if this is exclusively an Asian concept, but we have this thing called Panglabas: clothing for outside use. And Pangloob: clothing for indoor use. We have that type of concept that if you are going to an event or if you are going to meet someone, you should use the outside clothes. Inside clothes might be thrifted or some cheaper clothes gifted or from your old outside clothes. Here the wardrobe is turned around every day because you have inside clothes and outside clothes. So just to sustain that, especially knowing that most people cannot really afford buying brand new, makes thrifting a fundamental part of Filipino Culture. Additionally, the Philippines didn’t manufacture clothes on large scales until the 1980s and 90s. Nowadays, even the likes of Issey Miyake manufactures its clothes in factories here. But thrifting remains highly necessary, purely because of the practicality. It’s like going to the supermarket to buy your food. So yeah, I started fashion as a need, but it eventually evolved into a love for it over time.

Kurb

Yeah, that's the difference to my culture, it was very stigmatized to go thrifting. But I think it's interesting in your context that it was a necessary means to an end.  When I would thrift as a young person, it was like an exotic opportunity to explore random clothing. It was more like a hobby. But for you, what started out as a need transformed into a more academic interest, how did that take you to start source.ph? 

source.ph

So I started the same way every seller would: trying to find the best stuff. There were items I felt I absolutely had to have, but I also needed to figure out what was actually sellable — what does well in the market. I did a lot of research. But what I really wanted to explore was writing, especially in the early days of my shop. Around 2020, I felt I wanted to do something exciting and practice my philosophical writing around fashion. My writing has proven to be quite verbose and concept heavy, ridden with references to Karl Marx, and even more obscure references to the items themselves. Because I relate to the items. And it developed into a bigger life project to write, daily. I also try to keep reducing the things I source, or I at least choose them based on what I feel is valuable at this time. So essentially I started as a regular seller, but my project eventually evolved into curation, researching. With source.ph I really want to pursue more conceptual writing around clothing, and even film.

Kurb

JP & I met over my old unhinged fashion writings. It’s fun to hear your enthusiasm for writing, it’s something we prize at Kurb. I wonder if, because you curate, does your philosophical thinking inform curational taste? 

source.ph

I guess, in some sort of way it’s inevitable. But there are writings that I previously wanted to do, like when I was just studying as an undergraduate. But I just stopped because the business grew. But I tried to separate my discipline and what I do in academia from what I do online and what I do with my shop. But, I like to practice both fashion and philosophy together; I try to interpret what I see. In the earlier days, my writing was more informed by what I thought my audience wanted to see; I had no choice but to ride the waves of the times. 

But now I have more freedom because of the support and the people who continue to fund my business and what I do in general. I try to deliver them a whole experience. I think there has been a lack in the research space, especially on the designer side. When you do research, you start realizing the actual significance of designer clothing in the context of fashion history.  It’s the learning, the writing and the view of the context that informs my shop and how I curate, all the way down to the packaging. So, in a sense, source.ph isn’t just a shop but a way to demonstrate the value of research.

Kurb

I think that's something people seem to forget that there’s value that curators bring to clothing. That it's the articulation of the clothing and all the research that’s valuable. Although I think it’s always a fun endeavour to recontextualize the clothing within a different kind of framework. When I was getting into clothing, I also attempted to find different dimensions where clothing can exist. But it's difficult because the value system for clothing is so ephemeral. So trying to tie in research we think might be valuable might not translate for consumers. But I think trying to endeavour towards something like that is a fun thing to do, and finding ways to cater that to an audience sounds exciting. But on a separate note, how would you go about the sourcing process in the Philippines?

source.ph

Here there are secondhand businesses that almost function as franchises, like it's a Jollibee or a McDonald's. In the Philippines they are basically institutions. Within the areas where they are based, everyone knows about them and how to get there. And since thrifting is really common, we have our own in-groups: sellers who commonly talk with owners of these store owners. They will barter with you and give you access to stock earlier than others. The Philippines is basically a surplus country as a result of the USA's historical presence here. When they left, they also left all their stuff. To this day, a lot of our commodities are US leftovers, including the clothes. This allowed thrifting businesses to grow and became a core part of our culture. Thrifting here is so ubiquitous that even if you don't do it daily, there are still high chances you’ll stumble upon something interesting. The in-groups we operate in even have their own sub in-groups who may have access to even more exclusive goods. When I started, I was eager to participate in the thrift shops because the in-groups consisted of 100-200 people. And we all just pick a night and search through newly arrived stock. It’s all unregulated and feels like pure chaos sometimes.

So we can put out a timeline. Let's say, thrift store owners buy their stuff from somewhere like Hong Kong, Japan, you know, they do it at a throwaway price. So it's a really big selection. And then even among those selected most of it gets thrown out or donated or transferred to select stores that specialize in cheaper selections. They separate out select pieces they know have value as “New Arrivals”. These then get curated by some groups of sellers at select points in the year. During those opportunities, usually you’re assigned a number just to enter and select from the “New Arrivals”, after the pieces have passed through the select group of sellers, that’s where I jump in as a ‘third wave’ curator. Sometimes I buy from or even  source on my own. I do not just tap “New Arrival” sellers but also other curators to see what they have. They are all part of my sourcing. And if they don't know what they have, it's a good thing for me because that's where I can jump in and find something valuable for my business. With what I do, it's hard to sustain the research or build a brand based on resale, especially with reselling clothes. Even the wholesalers are becoming more savvy with pricing their own stock, as they see what we’re interested in as resellers, which in turn begins to influence how they organise their stock, making it more difficult for resellers here to find steals in the same way we used to.

Kurb

There definitely sounds like there’s a lot of complexity to the thrifting ecosystem in the Philippines. It’s interesting when you described the trickle down process from the international wholesalers to the domestic thrift stores. It’s perplexing to think about all the secondhand clothing that has already travelled before it’s presented to someone who may actually want to wear it. Like, you mentioned that even the seller is buying the bales from select locations, like, so many steps beforehand which is an interesting insight to the secondhand industrial complex. During your time as a reseller over the past six years, from your perspective how have you seen the resale landscape shift?

source.ph

I guess the biggest thing now I've seen is the rise of private sellers. They build their brand around their personal taste. So it's much, much niche or much more community focused. So there's a bunch of sellers who are not really keen on selling fast. They just want to establish their curation and present a page showcasing what they have. Many of these sellers have deep pockets and are able to get their hands on like 5 pairs of Undercover Arts and Crafts without a problem. There are already so few of those items in the world. So it’s hard to compete with players like that.

Kurb

There's a book called “Happy Victims” that showcases Japanese clothing collectors. Maybe you've seen this popular image of the Margiela guy and, you know, every corner of his room is covered in Margiela. What's interesting is that that kind of relationship to clothing has become a lot more popular. So now it's not just like in Japan that you see that but it's become an international phenomenon. And I even don't think it's so rare for someone to have like six pieces from a specific Undercover collection that happened 20 years ago. There are many more of those kinds of collectors today than there were when that book came out. It represents a deeper appreciation for the history of fashion. I can even say it like in my timeline, when I first came to fashion, I remember going on Yahoo Japan or Rakuten and finding as many different Issey Miyake Pleats Please, graphic dresses as I wanted for like 50 bucks or whatever. And then a few years later I'd go to museums and then I'd see the same pieces, but this time they're behind glass panels. So it's funny seeing the evolution in appreciation for the history of fashion. But coming back to the questions. I think your curation is quite distinctive. And I don't see many resellers within the Philippines with your taste. What drew you to your kind of curation? 

source.ph

I used to source what was popping, what people were wearing. But for me that process became quite unsustainable. Because when I would get the same piece, it would not have already diminished in value, because you're seldom the first to be reselling it aswell. It's always the first movers who grow in every community, like even on YouTube and its tech influencers. People went from reviewing tech like the simple mice to like cameras, way back like from the early days of YouTube. And look at where they are now. And I think that's mostly a necessity for me because I can never run out of things to sell if I, like, widen my range. But at the same time, it's also a need. Since I want to keep focus on the brand, I want to build a name for it. I was just talking with my right hand man for source ph. He was my best friend in college and he told me  that if we wanted to continue to grow this as a brand, you need to treat the name source with integrity and see it as a person: what does he like? What does he own or like to own? What types of people does he hang out with? Like, that's the thing I want to build or be my life project. Somebody can continue after me. That would be nice. So for now, I'm still building up to a team that could realize it further than what I have been doing for it as a platform for clothes, for selling.

Kurb

Yeah the brand identity aspects are really valuable, especially as you want to solidify more the business aspect and create the value there. You also made an interesting note about the importance of being the one to discover something. And I think it's really fascinating. I think now with Kurb, because we have so many different vendors, there's often a trickle down, you see, you know, like I think I witnessed it a lot last year when I was buying more like when Katherine Hamnett came onto the scene, I would see the clothing being resold by every other store. And then you always wonder what was the progenitor for that shift. But I have curiosity, like what brought you to the format you guys present for source.ph.

source.ph

Well, it started when I integrated more of my lifestyle into the store. Last year I had the privilege to organize my own event and hip hop gig. It was a one night thing. I was also new to hip hop. It's a different scene here. It’s a large community with people who make music videos, do production, do reviews of hip hop or even podcasts. It's big in the Philippines. When I started to integrate more of myself into source.ph, I was styling for hip hop artists music videos. That's when I realized that source.ph could be something bigger than clothes and reselling in general. I also got an opportunity to be a part of two album launches of different hip hop artists here. They're quite famous and they were among my first supporters of the shop. I was a consultant, and he used to have those kinds of projects where they needed to outsource or curate their media partners, those who would write content for this event. So I was hooked basically but now, trying to make it more intentional. Like we're planning to produce, more cinematic type of content with my friends, rooting out from my styling gigs. So I’m working more with my styling friends now who are more artsy and maybe launching in the middle of the year or next year, hopefully. While still doing events now. Hopefully I can also host a party here in our studio. But yeah, I think as a brand I want to show the world to see what the Philippines can offer and be a platform for our own creatives, from label artists, producers and singers to stylists, photographers.

Kurb (Ali)

I never imagined there were so many different branching opportunities related to source.ph, but it sounds cool that you’re so instrumental in those processes. I think it also makes sense, like how you consume the brand, develop and get it into all these different avenues is quite exciting. So I look forward to seeing the cinematic aspects coming through. So where do you see taking source.ph and your brand next?

source.ph

We're excited to take source.ph to the next stage. For now, as a platform for creatives, I want to put that next at the forefront of like culture in general, especially here locally. I want to enable them in the creative scene. There are a lot of valuable voices that need a platform. I want to use what I have, the network I can access, or even my platforms to showcase them. For now, that's the immediate goal. But the bigger plan would be to become like Supreme: recognisable wherever you put it. Take for example the Supreme Crow bar. Though Supreme is limited to material things. I want to work with intangible things too, like organizing a small house party or a housewarming, gallery launch, or whatever you'd like. It's where I want to put source.ph now as a platform, and in the future as more of a concept brand. 

Kurb (Ali)

It sounds very exciting and ambitious, excited to see all these different avenues which source.ph can inhabit.

 

If you’re keen on exploring the phenomenal curating and creative talent that orbits secondhand designer resale we made a tool just for you. Kurb is a platform that aggregates secondhand designer listings from over 400 vendors worldwide enabling you seamlessly and efficiently discover clothing at any price point. We routinely publish articles in collaboration with actors within the space alongside guides to better equip you to navigate the secondhand designer landscape. We host a vibrant community Discord server where we chat about the most recent developments in the resale ecosystem. If you're a second-hand designer reseller like source.ph we want to hear from you! Please reach out to us, we’re keen to unpack the diversity and talent suspended within the resale ecosystem. We’re constantly introducing new services for Kurb users so keep an eye on our Substack and Instagram if you want to be kept in the loop!