"How about Utrecht?"
"Maybe."
"How about Amsterdam?"
He pauses. "Maybe."
"How come?"
"’Cause you wear that only if you’re going to an international soccer game," he says.
Would I wear a Philippines tee if it were really cool? Would you?
In the late ’90s my friend, artist Victor Magsaysay, fresh from FIT New York, came up with a T-shirt that said, "Manila." At that time, it seemed like it took a lot of guts to make and wear that thing. Do we really have Philippine pride here or abroad? (Kill me now, but I know a lot of Filipinos who would trade in their green passports given a chance.)
On eBay, there are listings for T-shirts that say "Kiss Me I’m Filipino" and "Filipinos Do It Better" for $15.99 up. I don’t know how well their business is doing.
And now, hip American retailer Urban Outfitters comes up with a T-shirt that says, "I love Philippines."
"Like collecting shoes? Then you already have one thing in common with at least one resident of the Philippines," says the description on their website www.urbanoutfitters.com.
One proud wearer is Mig Ayesa, who wore the shirt on the recently concluded reality show Rock Star: INXS, where he placed third.
"The shirt reminds me of those sold at tourist shops in Mabini or Ermita where the Manila Bay sunset is just a walk away," observes my friend Jay.
If the $24 price tag is too much for you, you can always go local with Team Manila’s pride tees.
"It’s about promoting Manila – our next-level version of touristy T-shirts," explains Raymond Punzalan, 25, who co-owns Team Manila with Jowee Alviar, 24.
The designing duo met as classmates at UST’s College of Architecture and Fine Arts back in 1997. After working on projects during the CAFA years, Jowee and Raymond found out they shared similar work habits and design sensibilities.
When Jowee continued with his masters in graphic design at the California Institute of the Arts (Calarts), Raymond did work for MTV Ink and Pulp magazines as art director, while working for a graphic design studio in Mandaluyong.
With the help of other classmates and mountaineering org mates from the college days (including photographer Xander Angeles), they started Team Manila in 2001.
"There’s a general trend on the Internet for graphic design studios that represent countries like Japan and London, but there was none from the Philippines, so we came up with the name Team Manila," Jowee says.
The multi-disciplinary design studio produces everything from music videos (Slapshock, True Faith, Valley of Chrome, Dice and K9), Web design, books, and now clothing and accessories.
"We thought about (opening a store) for a year before we decided to go for it," Jowee says. Last April 21, they opened, literally, a hole-in-the-wall store at an unused space in front of their workshop at Ecoville Executive Townhomes in Makati.
So far, business has been good with T-shirts priced between P250 and P350. Accessories range from P60 for a small coin purse to P800 for a laptop case. Their new limited range of Republic tees is sold at Tonic for P800.
I wonder how and why they keep their prices down. For one thing, most of the products are silk-screened in-house. Jowee says, "We want to reach a wider market, like students." Team Manila is also popular with yuppies and "people who make padala abroad."
Not one for crab mentality, Team Manila wants to continue doing "more collaboration with people in Manila."
In the future they hope to reach out to more artists by organizing a Design Fiesta like what they have in Japan. It’s a freestyle international art event where, according to Jowee, "We can invite musicians, filmmakers, painters and all kinds of artists to exhibit their creative talent."