LINEA ETNIKA PROUD PINOY

Published by: Business and Leisure

Published on Apr 27, 2018

Linea Etnika is the brand that Looie Lobregat and her partner Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte came up with. The brand is fairly new, having just turned two this summer. The partners wanted to come up with a brand for daily wear using indigenous weaves. Both ladies have no background in fashion wear, Looie having been a banker before she went into Linea Etnika.

Looie wears her Yakan weave with pride. She has this special relationship with the Yakan community which dates back to the days when her grandmother, herself a staunch advocate of our local culture, was already patronizing the local weaves.

Looie shares that she feels very strongly that this is her purpose and it is her passion to work with the weaving communities like Yakan. She cites another staunch advocate of Philippine culture, Sen. Loren Legarda who, to their delight, loves their products. Looie is grateful to the Yakan community for the trust they have given her and she enjoys the special relationship she has with this tribe.

This was in 2016 and Looie felt that it was imperative that they come up with a brand fast. So they joined the Maarte Fair in August 2016 which was when they launched Linea Etnika. The brand brings the lady back to her hometown in Zamboanga where she happily works with the weaving community. Like all business endeavors, Linea Etnika had its fair share of challenges.

First of all, Looie works with a very lean team. As Looie says, there is always room for improvement. Though they have specific styles and sizes, they are open to requests from clients to tweak the style here and there, change the color perhaps and the length as their concession to customizing their products. They conceptualized Linea Etnika to be an online store, but thanks to the many advocates and supporters of this social enterprise that they put up, Linea Etnika can now be purchased from several stores.

However, they are having second thoughts about exporting their products. She is heartened to know that foreigners appreciate our products and her fervent wish is that Filipinos will also learn to appreciate our local weaves more. With Linea Etnika, they are empowering not only the Yakan weavers but also the residents of the Quezon City Jail who make notecards for them and the residents of Payatas as well who make the packaging for their bags.

Their mind set is not about competing with other similar brands. It is about being collaborative and working with other brands that share their advocacy of promoting local culture through our weaves and indigenous products. You just met up close and personal Looie Lobregat of Linea Etnika, this week’s Proud Pinoy.


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