FARM TO FASHION

Bayo Foundation with the Baguio HARVEST CommUNITY Hub presented a fashion forward, 30-
piece off the rack selection making the dream to have a farm to fashion industry on its way to reality. Anna Lagon, Bayo’s co-CEO and the Bayo Foundation’s executive director emphasized the
thrust of HARVEST is not only to extract quality products but also to provide benefits for the
supported communities.

Soft pastel hues hand crafted by a team of weavers mixed with cotton completed the off the rack
collection presented in the fashion launch, November 19, at the Baguio Botanical Garden, as part
of the 5th Ibag iw Festival in celebration of Baguio’s declaration as a UNESCO Creative City.
Senator Nancy Binay graced the HARVEST fashion show in support of local sustainable industries, vowing to replicate the Hub all over the Philippines.

Binay shared plans for the Baguio HARVEST Hub to be replicated all over the country to protect local industries from extinction, lauding the efforts to keep the weaving industry alive as well as give livelihood to communities in the city. Today, the weaving industry has lost its luster for the youth, leaving elders with no one to pass on the age-old craft, backing the goal of the Hub to bring economic gains back to the industry and encourage the coming generations to continue the legacy
of weaving to become sustainable and profitable.

The building of the HARVEST Hub is collaboration between the Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong who allowed the use of the space at the Botanical Garden and to utilize reclaimed wood from fallen pine trees to build the façade. A commercial paint company likewise pitched in support with air-purifying paints used by local artist, Venazir Martinez for wall murals inside the collaborative space.

Baguio HARVEST CommUNITY Hub stands for ‘Heritage and Artisanship Reimagined as a Vehicle for Economic Growth, Sustainability, and Technology with an emphasis on “UNITY” connoting a place to connect through craft, in synch with Bayo’s own #JourneytoZero mission towards circular fashion espoused in the Hub. Lagon backtracked on childhood memories identifying crocheted items to the city of Pines and acknowledged the highland town as a place for highly skilled community of weavers “We are here to pinpoint what else we can do for the community, it only
shows that partnerships work well if we choose principled partners, this is also a very important
tradition of weaving but also the crochet weavers of Baguio, maybe we can find ways to bring that back and not assume that these are imported.”

Bayo Foundation strives to improve the materials with threads using Philippine cotton and now
reaching toward using Ilocos threads which will also be channeled to the Baguio HARVEST Hub.
Marie Venus Tan, Bayo Board of Director revealed a sericulture project is underway for the Hub which envisions to source out silk from Barangay Cuba, Kapangan, a town in the Benguet province to make the project a truly sustainable endeavor.

In 2021, Bayo committed to buy the fresh cocoons at the appropriate price, which they will process into silk and into fabric. The town is reviving its silk production with the assistance of the Department of Science and Technology and the private sector to jumpstart the production of local
silk in the Cordilleras. Tan, who is former chief operating officer of the Philippines Tourism Promotions Board and Regional Director of the Department of Tourism Cordillera said the sericulture project with Kapangan was a long-time plan and is happy that it is now seeing its
realization with HARVEST.

PAGBABAGO

Amianan Balita Ngayon