A local clothing brand’s streetwear design was talked about on an international forum on Reddit.
One of the owners of Makati-based Rafikimono posted the brand’s new design on subreddit r/streetwear on July 5. It had since been upvoted more than 2,300 times on the forum.
The r/streetwear community has 2.7 million followers. In the profile, it stated that it is “Reddit’s official streetwear community.”
“This batik kimono and shorts set I made have a 90s Versace vibe. Got my vintage rattan suitcase at an ukay ukay (secondhand store) in Manila, Philippines,” said u/vestigialbaculum.
In the discussion section, as a response to a user’s query, the user detailed that the “batik” cloth is from Central Java in Indonesia.
In another response, the user also added that the clothing brand also has prints from Mindanao, particularly the ones from Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga.
“Prints from Mindanao (heart emojis) Our favorites are from Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga, etc. The handwoven textiles are amazing, but expensive and the width is just 25” so it’s hard to make anything out of,” the user wrote.
Other users also joined in the chorus of praises for the design and the prints of the handwoven outfit.
The user then cross-posted this to the subreddit community for Filipinos or the r/Philippines.
“Still gloomy and GCQ/MECQ-ish, but making the most of it. We’re a small Poblacion, Makati fashion brand so we wanted to share some of our work with the PH community here. You can check out our IG: @rafikimono,” read the post.
Rafikimono is a local clothing store owned by American Rafael Fuchs-Simon and his girlfriend Filipino Shaun Sauger who also come up and model the outfits themselves.
In an interview with Esquire, the couple stated that the business started with their love for kimonos and then eventually turned it into a lucrative venture.
In the website, the store sells full-length silk kimonos, shorts, shirts and recently, face masks.
