The Conscious Design Co.
In Conversation with Jann Bungcaras, Designer, Philippines
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am Jann Bungcaras, 25 years old, a Filipino Sustainable Fashion Designer from the town of Cebu. I am a Libra and the eldest son among three siblings and the eldest grandson among 10 grandchildren. I am from a big Chinese Filipino Politician family of Southern Leyte. As of the moment, I am the notorious fashion school drop-out, since I did not graduate from any fashion schools.
Which past experiences would you say have shaped your work, design sensibilities, & aesthetic?
For as long as I could remember, I have always been passionate about protecting and loving nature since I was a child, this is probably because of my exposure to farm animals and rice fields, one of my grandparents’ businesses is a rice mill and whenever I visit them I see a lot of plants. I would also say cartoon characters like Cornelia from Witch and nature fairies from Movies encouraged my love for nature as they injected the idea of being guardians towards mother earth to a little boy named Jann.
In middle school, we had a film showing of the documentary 6 Degrees Could Change the World by National Geographic and then and there I know that whatever I will do in the future it is for the benefit of nature and the environment. And now I am a sustainable fashion designer!
I was also a flamboyant child, I am still a flamboyant person up to now. And I do not really get gender roles in fashion or in clothing. That is why growing up, I tend to break those rules by mixing my mother's wardrobe into mine, to the point where the bullying doesn't bother me anymore. This leads to my Genderless and Unisex targeting in my brand, and also my thick-face demeanour.
When it comes to aesthetic, I am usually inspired by narrations of fictions and history out from a storybook, to commemorate mostly my lost childhood, since all my life I was trained to become a doctor or a lawyer but trauma to my head while I was in college prevented me from pursuing what my family wanted for me; but paved way for me to pursue my fashion design dream.
What is your personal philosophy in life?
I believe in a lot of things, but what fuels me everyday is the fight for Basic Human Rights, Gender Equality and Environmental Conservation.
At the moment, we feel that our freedom of expression has been stripped off slowly in my country. The government, and I am saying this in general, shutdown a main broadcasting franchise, ABSCBN; imprisoned the CEO of Rappler and implemented a certain Anti-Terror Law which vaguely labels almost anyone who is critical to them as terrorists. I believe that everyone has the right to speak, to live and to be heard. Being silenced is not an option. My whole life is a protest against how badly people treated people like me, the LGBT. How straight people treat us as a secondary breed of people, who do not deserve basic rights: for example to marry, to have a family, to be labeled as who we are. My whole life is also a protest against how we, humans, badly treated our Mother Earth.
I believe either in Metaphor or in literal about the Duties of Adam. We are homo sapien sapiens, the only recorded thinking being, and because of that we are placed here on Earth to protect it, to conserve Nature and not the other way around. It is our responsibility to keep our world alive, for we are the only ones capable of fixing the problems that we started.
How would you define your personal style?
In a daily basis, I gravitate towards functional, comfortable and monochromatic, because I am always moving around, running errands and I also want to look taller. I also believe in the Chinese Zodiac Sign and Horoscopes, so I incorporate my lucky colors there as well. I also practice what I preach, so the clothes that I wear are either second hand, surplus, from thrift shops, gifted to me, made by other local designers or something from my brand. I never bought anything from fast fashion brands for myself since 2016. And i also do not mind the gender labeling of the clothes, if I feel more powerful wearing it, then I do not care if the garment was made for male or for female.
When it comes to events or photoshoots I would love to wear something that has an infusion of my brand DNA- pure childlikeness and sustainability. I would still keep it monochromatic but would wear dressier combinations from my brand and other clothes in my closet. When I think of my brand's target wearer, I think of myself, so infusing my designs to my own wardrobe won't be difficult.
What inspires your work?
I am often inspired by narrations or stories because in every collection I make I wanted my audiences to feel and embody the message I am trying to tell. Through these stories I was able to tackle Social and Personal Issues in a much more relatable and easily absorbed manner.
I launched Jann Bungcaras with my collection "Wanderings of a Child Prince" for bench design awards 2018. It was inspired by the novel "the Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. I used this narration to inspire everyone, especially adults, to never let go of your childhood self, that no matter where we are in life, it is never too late to pursue the dreams we had as a child. My collection reminded them of the story, and the story reminded them of that message. My goal was successful, because after that show, though I did not win, people quoted lines from the book as captions for the photos they took of my collection; and I felt that they were able, even in that moment, to embrace and recall the child they once were.
My second collection dealt with Social Issues for I portrayed the Big Bad Wolf as a transgender coming to terms with himself while dressed as a woman in my "Howling: a Wolf's Longing" Collection. An army of men dressed as wolves in feminine silhouettes telling the Red Riding Hood Story was uphold to show my audiences that the LGBTQ exists and as more powerful than ever. It was a collection to promote our cry for the SOGIE BILL, a bill that protects our rights from discrimination which is still not implemented as law by the Philippine government.
What is your vision for your work?
My vision for my brand is always aligned to my personal goals, since my brand is me. Moving forward, I envision that my brand will be one of the sustainable brands that will help make Sustainable and Ethical Fashion mainstream. We cannot compete so much with the fast fashion brands my means of prices but with education, emotional connection, targeting and advertisement, our message will soon come across. We also would want to discover more ways to create upcycled sustainable clothing. The Philippines is rich with skilled artisans from indigenous tribes that has heirloom of techniques of fabric production and upcycling and natural biodegradable fibers.
Though we are catering to clients abroad, I would love to be able to supply garments to physical shops all over the world as well. To be able to share my Filipino culture and narrations through my designs.
It is every designer's dream to Branch out abroad, to be a household name, for his brand to live longer than him. I really dream big and high; and I am driven enough to reach and accomplish all of them as well.
Who are your favourite designers?
Other than myself, I would say that my favourite artists for Sustainable fashion would be Reese Fernandez-Ruiz, the founder of Rags to Riches bags which made use of scrap fabric as main materials for her high class and world class bags; My friends, Abraham Guardian and Mamuro Oki, of Hamu, they turn textile-wastes into out of this world garments; My best friend, Nina Amoncio, who used Fabric end-of-rolls for her brand Antonina; and Candle Ray, who won 2nd place at Eco-Chic Design Awards.
What is your favourite travel destination and why?
For it to be my favourite I have to experience it first, so I would say my favourite destination is the trill of Tuesdays, it is when the Fabric Industry Waste warehouses have new stocks of textile wastes and the possibilities are endless. I love finding gems and building my next products and collection on the materials I see. I am really easily pleased that simple notions and activities like these make me happiest.
If this question is referring to a country, I always dream of Italy since I saw the Lizzie Macguire Movie, and I really love how clean the movie presented Rome. And i want to expand there as well since Italians are like Filipinos, they value family ties as much as we do.
Your favourite book, film, or music, that motivate & inspire you.
My Favorite book is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, i have read this in middle school. The book taught me that no matter what the construct of society labels us, our determination and will to manifest our plans and vision for ourselves can break and challenge this societal mold.
My favorite film is The Devil Wears Prada, this movie proved to me that a complete fashion make-over can actually change the person and make her powerful. Miranda and Andrea at the end of the film benefited from each other in a way that the former was able to reflect her actions and the latter was able to improve her sense of style, confidence and self-worth.
I have two favorite activities, one is sleeping. Sleeping to me is an escape and a luxury; even in my sleep i still design clothes or plan my next move, so having a slumber with only fantastical dreams puts a smile on my resting face. My second favorite activity is conceptualizing and planning. I love it when an inspiration appear and i have to build a new collection around it. My fashion school told me concepts are my strength so i am using it to my advantage.
I listen to Sad Songs from independent artists like Birdy, Crywolf, Gabriel Aplin, Sleeping Atlast and Vancouver Sleep Clinic because they make me think, reflect and feel the same reaction I want my audiences to have towards my designs. I am at my most creative when I am vulnerable and emotional.
Tell us something about your brand.
Jann Bungcaras is a Genderless Sustainable Fashion Brand that uses narrations of fiction and history to adhere to political, social, personal and environmental issues. We make use of textile wastes and organic fibers as main materials of our garments. We also do slow fashion since our products are handmade by myself and artisans that I call my family.
We are genderless because we do not label our garments as women's or menswear and we were able to create a ready-to-wear pattern that works for both genders. Our production is all home-based at the moment in the island of Cebu but despite this, we are already catering to clients abroad, in Europe and the United States.
We are a brand with two goals and those are for our wearers to embrace their idiosyncrasies and to make clothes that are friend to nature.
What value are you trying to create through your work?
Through my work, the value I am trying to create is emotional because it is through one's emotion that we can convince people to care for the environment and switch to more sustainable decisions and also to think about the issues we are fighting for.
The emotional connection was done the moment my buyer or audience was able to relate their lives or even question their beliefs through my designs that were inspired by familiar narrations.
Through my work, I would also love to promote ethical production and to eliminate the stigma of using textile-wastes as materials for my products. I am here to prove that there is gold in the industry garbage and it is more fashionable to wear garments made from these rescued textiles rather than something from a fast-fashion brand.
As I said in the previous question, after watching the documentary 6 degrees could change the world, I dedicated my life to help the environment and lessening my carbon footprint in whatever career path I choose. Now that I am a sustainable fashion designer, my value aligns to this statement. Through my work, I am using fashion to combat climate change by educating people, rescuing wastes as resources for my products, and doing everything I can to make genuinely sustainable fashion products mainstream.
What is your take on the sustainable fashion sector in your country? How do you think your country is faring in the global scenario?
Due to hardships, it is normal or not unusual for unemployed or poorly paid Filipino sewers to dive into fabric landfills in order to score scrap materials that they will, later on, turn into disposable potholders, rags and even clothing like shorts and tank tops. My mother was even able to wear dresses made from sacks when she was a child.
Before I was born, I suppose upcycling is already done in my country as a means of sewing their way out of hunger. A sad notion and motivation indeed. The problem here is the term "disposable." Yes, these products were made from sustainable materials but their quality and end-of-life plan mean that they will be thrown in the garbage someday; but I am just happy that even through this, we were able to create a somewhat circular economy that delays the process of the piling of wastes in the landfill. Our job as sustainable designers and brands is to fill in the gaps that our predecessor have and that is to create clothes made from rescued textile wastes and planning a better end of life or quality for them.
When I was still studying fashion design circa 2012, A brand that uses fabric scraps to turn into woven bags became popular and in recent years a lot of sustainable brands came about thanks to the encouragement done by international NGOs like Fashion Revolution and the competition Eco-Chic which is now renamed into Redress Design Awards that motivated young fashion students to create brands that are helpful to the environment.
Having these said I would say that the Philippine sustainable fashion sector is strong and could compete internationally if given the right opportunities. Material wise, being a for lack of better words, having my country as a dumpsite of international fashion brands for their wastes, second-hand clothing and surpluses we have loads of variety to rescue and to choose from. Culture wise, even without the notion of sustainable fashion, our ancestors were able to upcycle textile-wastes just for them to have something to sell and to wear. And we were also able to produce fibres made from organic resources such as pineapple, banana and abaca that could be exported worldwide.
