About Rags2Riches

Eco.

Ethical.

Style.

TABLE OF CONTENTS About Rags2Riches Rags2Riches Eco-Ethical Principles Rags2Riches Gallery FAQs

ABOUT

RAGS2RICHES

about rags2riches Rags2Riches Inc. is a for-profit social enterprise based in Manila, Philippines, creating eco-ethical fashion and home accessories out of up cycled scrap cloth, organic materials and indigenous fabrics by working with artisans (mostly women) living in the poor communities across the country. Rags2Riches' philosophy stands upon its four bottom lines: People, Profit, Planet and Positive Influence.

The eco-ethical business model originated in 2007 in Payatas, one of the Philippines' largest dumpsites and home to 12,000 families. An informal cottage industry of rug-weavers grew from the many women who developed a means to earn a living by scavenging the waste to find and recycle scrap pieces of fabric so that they could participate in handicraft production like rug and rag weaving, while taking care of their children at home. Over time, the industry became exploited by a series of middlemen who controlled both the supply of scrap fabric and the women's access to the market, which created an unfair value chain for the women who at the end of the day earned only pennies per finished product.

Rags2Riches Inc. was created to provide these artisans with fair access to the market and the formal economy, as well as with additional skills- based, financial and health training so that they can maximize their career potential and take steps towards long-term financial and personal well-being. R2R integrated a design solution by partnering with well-known local fashion designers like Rajo Laurel, Amina Aranaz-Alunan and Oliver Tolentino turning scrap materials into fashion handbags. After four years, R2R has already empowered 450 artisans across 21 communities in the Metro Manila area and continues to expand its social impact and eco-ethical footprint in the country.

The Rolex Foundation in Switzerland selected Rags2Riches Inc. founder-partner and current CEO, Reese Fernandez-Ruiz, as one of the five inaugural Rolex Young Laureates for recognition of her work. In 2010, Rags2Riches linked up with its current investor-partner, Liechtenstein Global Trust Venture Philanthropy (LGT VP). Rags2Riches is to date, one of the 14 portfolio companies of LGT VP, screened and selected out of a pool of 2,000 social enterprises from around the world.

About Rags2Riches

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Rags2Riches Board of Directors and Founding Partners Timothy Agulto– Xavier Valedictorian, Hapinoy, Leadership Guru

Xavier Alpasa S.J. —Previous Executive Director of Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan, Outstanding Alumnus, UST, TED Fellow, multi-awarded Social Entrepreneur, Social Entrepreneur– Hotel Maya, Isla Cullion

Bam Aquino— Previous Chairman of National Youth Commission, Asia 21 Fellow, The Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines 2010, Jollibee Yumbassador 2010, Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist, Hapinoy President and CoFounder, TV Host of Start-UP

Angeline Benavides-Bulan—Executive in a multi-national Financial Institution

Judith Caballero—Empowered Woman Leader in Payatas, Chairman of the Board of the Rags2Riches Cooperative 2010-2011

Reese Fernandez-Ruiz —2008 YouthActionNet Top 20 Global Young Social Entrepreneurs, Rolex Young Laureate 2010, The Outstanding Women of the Philippines youngest award recipient, Ten Outstanding Young Leaders of the Philippines 2010, Go Negosyo Inspiring Entrepreneur of the Year 2010, Timi Gomez—Executive in one of the country’s top multi-national companies

Maan Lim—Entrepreneur, Loyola University Chicago MBA Graduate, Strategic Manager

Memey Mendoza— Executive in one of the country’s top Telecommunications company working on community enabling and empowerment through technology and skills, Entrepreneur

Mark Ruiz—Top 10 Outstanding Young Leaders of the Philippines (Asia 21), Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist, Go Negosyo Inspiring Entrepreneur of the Year 2010, Hapinoy Managing Director and Co-Founder

TJ Agulto

Memey Mendoza

Maan Lim

Fr. Xavier Alpasa S.J.

Ange Benavides-Bulan

Reese Fernandez

Bam Aquino

Timi Gomez

Mark Ruiz

LGTVP—The LGT Venture Philanthropy Foundation (LGTVP) was founded in 2007 on the initiative of, and with funds from, the Princely Family of Liechtenstein. Its mission is to raise the sustainable quality of life for less advantaged people especially in the developing world. Applying a venture philanthropy approach, we seek to support both non-profit and for-profit organizations active in the areas of alleviating human suffering, education, and sustainable livelihoods by providing capital, as well as knowledge, strategic support and access to relevant contacts and networks. The aim is to create long-lasting sustainable impact while building the structures to enhance long-term development and self-empowerment. LGTVP makes use of grants, loans and equity investments. Any generated profit is channelled back into the fund and will be used for additional investments. www.evpa.eu.com/.../LGT-Venture-Philanthropy-Foundation.pdf

About Rags2Riches: Board of Directors and Founding Partners

Rags2Riches Awards and Recognitions

The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service

About Rags2Riches: Awards and Recognitions

Rags2Riches In the News

OVER 700 ARTICLES, BLOGS, AND PUBLICATIONS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD

About Rags2Riches: Press Articles

E C O - E T H I C A L

P R I N C I P L E S

rags2riches ecoethical principles ECO Rags2Riches has a preferential option to use upcycled, organic, and indigenous materials ETHICAL Rags2Riches products, including raw materials are at least 80% (with the exception of raw materials such as zippers, some handles, buttons, beads) handcrafted by community-based artisans.

These artisans also benefit from Rags2Riches’ skills and business training modules (Artisan Academy) and opportunities to access savings and social security services

Rags2Riches Eco-Ethical Principles

G A L L E R Y

RAJO LAUREL

Rajo Laurel is one of the top Filipino fashion designers.

His innate eye for fashion was enhanced through his training from New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology and Central Saint Martin’s in London.

Fifteen years into his career, he has received several awards locally and internationally for fashion design and entrepreneurship. Last 2008, he was named as one of the People of the Year 2008 for his excellent years as a designer and for his advocacy through Rags2Riches.

Rajo Laurel is one of Rags2Riches’ first believers who truly revolutionized the social enterprise. The RIIR by Rajo Laurel line gave birth to other designer lines and began the transformation of Rags2Riches into an EcoEthical Lifestyle Brand.

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A R A N A Z

Amina Aranaz-Alunan is a bag designer and School of Fashion and the Arts’ (SoFA) co-founder. She graduated Cum Laude from Istituto Marangoni in Milan and returned to Manila to build the family bag brand, ARANAZ. She was awarded by Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Super as the Designer of the Year for 2006 and was nominated in the Accessories Designer of the Year category at the Mega Fashion Awards 2007.

She is also a member of the Fashion & Design Council of the Philippines (FDCP). Known for her flair for fashion, she is also often cited as one of Manila's style icons.

Amina Aranaz-Alunan and her mother Becky Aranaz, greatly contributed to Rags2Riches’ growth as a more sustainable social business enterprise. Amina also supported the Rags2Riches women with skills trainings through her School of Fashion and the Arts, or SOFA Manila.

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T O L E N T I N O

For its “2011 Featured Designer” Rags2Riches partnered with Filipino designer Oliver Tolentino. Oliver became the first Philippines-based fashion designer to expand into the United States with a shop on Melrose Avenue in 2009. In less than two years, Oliver had his creations featured at the Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys, Grammys, American Billboard Awards, and on “America’s Next Top Model (Cycle 17 All Stars).” He has represented his country in Switzerland, Milan, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Bahamas, and New York, and has had additional shows in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, where he was Fashion Week El Paseo's "2011 Featured Designer," one of Southern California's highest honors.

Oliver has proudly promoted his native fabrics and won the “2011 Sustainable Eco Fashion Award” in the Bahamas and represented the Philippines at EcoChic Hong Kong and United Colors of Fashion in New York.

Metro & Metro Society magazines, in conjunction with ABS-CBN, selected him its “2011 MetroWear Icon,” one of the Philippines' highest fashion honors.

OLIVER TOLENTINO

OLIVER TOLENTINO

OLIVER TOLENTINO

OLIVER TOLENTINO

OLIVER TOLENTINO

OLIVER TOLENTINO

IN-HOUSE DESIGNS

Frequently Asked Questions Where do you get your raw materials? – We have 3 kinds of raw materials. First is the scrap cloth that we source straight from garments manufacturers to make sure that the materials are clean and free from toxic waste. The second set of materials is our organic/ethically sourced materials that we purchase from other partner social enterprises around the Philippines. We work closely with these partner social enterprises to improve their design and the quality of their materials as well. The third set of materials we use is our indigenous materials. We purchase these from foundations and other social enterprises who directly support indigenous communities.

How do you select your Artisans? Where are they located? – We have 2 major groups of artisans. The first group is our communities from less-advantaged urban communities around Metro Manila. The second group is our communities from mountainous and indigenous areas around the Philippines. We work with existing NGOs and Foundations with existing on-the-ground programs in communities who can be our community-development partners. We are the sustainable livelihood partner of these NGOs and Foundations.

How are the Artisans paid? How do you compute the payments?-- We start with carefully calculating fair wages according to global fair trade standards (in most cases, our rates are higher than global fair trade standards). We use a time and motion study to make sure that if a mother chooses to work for the full 8 hours per day, she has the potential to earn at least 410 (10USD) to 500 pesos (12 USD) (minimum wage is at around 410pesos or 10 USD). Each product that we produce has a corresponding time and motion study to determine the per piece rate. For example, if a product takes 50 minutes to produce in average, our multiplier per minute would be .85 (.85*50 minutes = 42.50 pesos per product). This means that if a mother spends 8 hours a day for creating this particular bag, she could make 410 pesos in that day or higher depending on her ability to do more for less time. In our experience, the artisans become more efficient by 30% in a matter of 3 months.

How is Rags2Riches Sustainable for the employees and stakeholders?-- Rags2Riches is a company that aims to create the happy win-win situation for all shareholders and stakeholders, and thus, we believe in paying our people decent salaries that will allow them to live simply but comfortably. Our operations expense consists of salaries for our team of 16 people (6 of which are also mothers from Payatas), basic utilities, rent, and some marketing expense. As a rule, we push the labor cost up as constantly and consistently as we can while pushing down marketing expense through creative partnerships and sponsorships.

You are a for-profit social enterprise, what are your principles when it comes to profit-generation and profit-sharing?-- Another thing that is unique about Rags2Riches is its structure. We are a for-profit corporation that is co-owned by the Women Cooperative in Payatas that we also helped establish. This is a legally binding partnership with the community. The community members are represented in our board and the community is also part of the distribution of dividends in the future. In our 4 years of operations however, we have not yet distributed any dividends as our priority is to grow the social enterprise and expand our reach to more areas. In short, our profits for now, are plowed back to the enterprise in order to finance the expansion to more communities and to provide services to them as well. However, we believe that the best way to create more positive impact is to be a business that proves that doing good can and will lead to doing well.

How do you price your products? -- we base the pricing of our products on market demand and the brand equity as well of our partner designers, so that we make sure that we do not undervalue the designers' inputs. We also take into consideration the royalties we offer our partner designers for them to keep or to donate to their charitable institutions such as your scholarships and feeding programs. Our goal is to create the happy win-win situation for all our stakeholders, including our partner designers who commit their time and talent to Rags2Riches.

Aside from regular income, what are the other benefits you provide for your artisans?-- we have continuously (and will continuously) provided the communities with training for artisan skills, financial literacy, personality development, health care, basic nutrition, family values, and business skills. We call this mini-MBA program our Rags2Riches Artisan Academy. We have also created the Quality of Life Program wherein part of the labor cost goes straight to an individual bank account to allow the mothers to save money and to eventually channel this to the education of their children for University or for their personal insurance and investments.

Where do you sell your products? – We are currently selling in the Philippines via 5-star hotel boutiques, resorts, and high-end malls. However, we are also exploring international sales as Rags2Riches has been receiving interests from all around the world. We held several trunk shows for the high society and diplomatic core of several countries in Europe and have received outstanding and overwhelming response evidenced by products getting sold out less than 30 minutes after unveiling. Because of these wonderful opportunities, we are currently organizing our production and community expansion to prepare us for international market exploration.

Frequently Asked Questions