Despite the challenges that have affected its business and the rest of the fashion retail industry, Filipino brand BAYO remains committed to its purpose of using its platform to help others and make a positive impact on society.
“One of the most important lessons our Company learned from this crisis is that adversity should not stop us from helping,” Anna Lagon, Chief Executive Officer of BAYO, said. “Being focused on helping others not only motivated our whole team to continue being productive, but it opened up strategic partnerships that helped sustain our operations, give livelihoods to more people, and even inspired product innovations.”
Since the start of the pandemic, BAYO has strengthened its linkages with the Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI), Office of the Vice President (OVP), and the local government units (LGUs) of Pasig, Baguio, and Kapangan, Benguet.
Being one of the few Filipino fashion retail brands with a manufacturing facility in the country, it has expanded from making ready-to-wear clothes to producing personal protective equipment (PPE) for hospital frontliners and medically-reviewed masks for consumers, government offices, and companies, which allowed for BAYO to keep its production workers and employ additional skilled sewers.
From reviving local textiles to saving frontliners
Even before the pandemic, BAYO had already been working with PTRI to elevate and expand the use of homegrown textiles to support the broader garments industry value chain, make sourcing more accessible to other local brands, and provide the means to make a living to more Filipinos–from the farmers who propagate and rear the plants that become raw materials to the weavers and sewers who make the clothes, to retailers on both online and offline channels.
In February 2020, due to growing COVID-19 concerns, BAYO reached out to PTRI about manufacturing fabric masks that could withstand liquid droplets and cover the nostrils and mouth effectively. The company started making masks the month before in response to the Taal Volcano eruption, produced 10,000 sets, and distributed them to areas affected by ashfall through the OVP.
“The reason we wanted to explore manufacturing masks made of fabrics was primarily due to our advocacy of sustainability, which we have been actively promoting for the past several years. We were concerned about the use of disposable masks due to their negative impact on the environment,” Lagon said.
As BAYO started refining its masks to be more effective against the virus, it again got a call from the OVP asking if it could manufacture PPEs. “We were hesitant at first due to our lack of knowledge in making medical PPEs and the logistics of mobilizing people during the early stages of the lockdown. However, seeing reports of hospital frontliners dying due to the country’s inadequate PPE supply moved us to take on the challenge,” Lagon said. “Opening our facility for the OVP was easy, but convincing our people to report for work during the outbreak was a tough call to make. But to our surprise, everyone responded to our call. The common reason? This is our way of helping frontliners fight covid 19. Everyone was excited to work, reporting early and doing their work efficiently even with minimal supervision and the mobility constraints due to safety protocols.”
To ensure the health and safety of its employees, BAYO provided shuttle services between their homes and its production facility and commissioned an in-house catering service to provide lunch and snacks. The OVP arranged transportation assistance for employees who lived far and for its PPEs to be evaluated and cleared by medical experts.
BAYO’s initial foray into making masks for the PTRI and PPEs for the OVP opened the doors to orders from private companies, LGUs, and other government agencies. This enabled the company to involve other communities to help in the orders thus providing these people livelihood during the lockdown.
“When the requirements from the Pasig LGU came in, we tapped sewers from five of its barangays to help us with the production,” Lagon shared.
The exposure to the pivot of making PPEs allowed BAYO to launch new merchandise that consumers in lockdown would be excited about. “We started producing fashionable masks and PPE-inspired workwear. We introduced masks with adjustable loops that can be tied behind the ears or the head and came up with a tailored coat overlay made from water-resilient fabrics that users can wear over their clothes as added protection. These have become bestsellers, and we keep adding new designs every month,” Lagon said. “We’ve also strengthened and revamped our e-commerce site, www.styleshops.com.ph, so that consumers can shop from the comfort of their homes.”
Revenues for the past two years may still not be at par with pre-pandemic figures, as Filipinos were struggling with reduced income, travel and gatherings were prohibited. In addition BAYO had to close intermittently its stores in areas where enhanced community quarantines were implemented. Sales plummeted during the months from March to May which used to be fashion retail’s peak season when Filipinos would be shopping for their proms, graduations, summer vacations, and Mothers’ Day. Nevertheless, BAYO’s purpose-led pivots and innovations are helping secure its future. “We had foregone our usual profits when we agreed to manufacture face masks and PPEs for the OVP, Pasig City and PTRI. We cannot in conscience charge huge profits from the misery of others. What is paramount for us is to be able to support the country’s efforts to fight the pandemic. It is enough that we can just continue paying the salaries of our workers to help them during lockdowns.”
Purpose as a pillar of business
Even before the pandemic, BAYO had woven its purpose into its business model. “The 5Ps guide our business – People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership. Planet focuses on protecting our natural resources and climate for future generations. People is about ending poverty and hunger in all forms and ensuring dignity and equality, taking care of our people has always been our priority. Prosperity pertains to ensuring a shared economic growth for all our stakeholders. Peace means fostering peaceful, just, and inclusive societies while Partnership covers embarking on local and global partnerships to implement and accelerate our goals.”
Seeing how the global fashion industry has become the world’s second biggest polluter, next to the oil sector, and contributes up to 10% of carbon emissions, the Company chose to mark its 25th anniversary in 2017 by launching “Journey to Zero,” a circular economy initiative that lessens its environmental footprint. “We have already innovated the way we use fabrics to reduce waste from 35% to as low as 5%. When our recycling plant opens in 2022, we’ll be able to process the remaining 5% to achieve zero-waste manufacturing.” It also tapped Green Story, a third-party auditor based in Toronto, Canada, to monitor Bayo’s greenhouse gas emissions.
BAYO became a participant member of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the world’s largest initiative calling on companies to align strategies and operations to universal human rights principles, environment, labor, and anti-corruption. The Company reinforced its adherence to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), including eradicating poverty and hunger, promoting gender equality, providing decent work, and practicing responsible consumption. “The pandemic has been very difficult for our Company, but it is important to do what we can to foster more sustainable cities and communities where Filipinos can lead more dignified lives.”
BAYO has been supporting various weaving communities in Bulacan, Benguet, Aklan, and Cebu. It partnered with PureOceans, a marine conservation social enterprise that collects and diverts plastic litter, and assisted PTRI, DOST Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), and the LGU of Kapangan, Benguet in reviving the local sericulture industry and providing additional income to women farmers. A collection resulting from this collaboration will debut in November 2021 during National Science and Technology Week.
Its efforts were recognized by UN Women Empowerment Principles 2021, which recently awarded BAYO as Champion for Gender-Responsive Marketplace and was the 2nd runner-up for the category: Community Engagement and Partnerships.
Lagon hopes to motivate other Filipino enterprises to continue pursuing their purpose and find their own way of helping others while encouraging the government and ordinary consumers to recognize the essential role of local businesses in economic recovery, resilience, and sustainability. “Fashion is part of the wider creative industry, which is a significant advantage at this time. We need creativity to innovate and continuously think of ways to cope. Our sector can generate employment given the support of well-meaning individuals, organizations, and the government who have the most capacity to spur our economy. Supporting local businesses is not just a motto or marketing drama. It is what we need to sustain each other’s lives effectively.”