Love for designs kicks off local clothing line business

CEBU, Philippines - Noting that Cebuanos still set aside money for clothes despite the global financial crisis, two fine arts graduates from Cebu ventured into the garment industry and put up their own line of clothes, which is now slowly creating a niche in the Cebuano market.

Christine “Tessa” Omega and Bernadette “Adette” Yu, owners of Chris&Berns Cebu, both relatively newcomers in the fashion industry that offer stylish and unique clothes at affordable prices, shared that their love for clothes and designing started the whole business.

Omega and Yu said that they initially shelled out P50 thousand to start up their business, however, there was no formal planning of how the business would come about.

They shared that before Chris&Berns was realized a year ago, they were already separately making their own designs for bags and bikinis and offering it to their own set of customers like family and friends. They were also producing some of their products to some local shops found in the city.

But the two said that since they had an opportunity to come up with their own brand and set of clothes, they immediately made the needed arrangements.

Before they had their own shop in Maze in the 3rd floor of Ayala Center Cebu, they were in a consignment agreement with an owner of one of the shops. But after the owner decided not to pursue with her business, the tandem offered to continue renting the place, thus the start of Chris&Berns Cebu.

Their start up capital covered for the rentals, materials for the clothes, and the job-out fees for the workers that would make the clothes.

At present Chris&Berns already has their own shop and workers needed to meet the increasing demand from clients. In fact, the two plans to expand their shop.

Omega and Yu said that they have a lot of plans for their business like the expansion and putting up more stores, but right now they are focusing on the shop located in Maze, which is their goal for this year, and looking at more things they could do to attract more customers.

The two said that they entered the business knowing that there is a lot of competition but said that their edge from the products that are found in the area is that the clothes are personally designed after they research on what is in and what they think would last in the market.

The two also said that the fabric they use are carefully chosen and the clothes they make are not mass produced which would ensure the buyers that there are only a few with them that has the product.

Offering the “Classic, modern, and fashionista” style, Chris&Berns have clothes fit for women coming from all ages and sizes with styles ranging from casual , corporate and evening wear that promises interesting details, nice cuts, good quality and affordable prices. They also have bags, accessories and also shoes that are produced by consignments which they also accept. — AJ de la Torre