A line began to snake around the Alabang Town Center Activity Center as early as 9 a.m. It was the opening day of Aid Couture, a Philippine Red Cross project to raise funds for Typhoon Yolanda relief efforts by selling the surplus of donated clothing from their warehouses. Though it turned out that the people who had been camping out were there for the #TulongPH shirts sported by ABS-CBN celebrities, Mukta Maheshwari of Proctor and Gamble remained positive. “It’s aspirational for people to buy something they see on celebrities,†she observed. This bodes well for Aid Couture because a number of famous people, like Ruffa Gutierrez, Victor Basa, Angel Jacob, Ely Buendia, Borgy Manotoc, Yan Yuzon, Gaby dela Merced, Teresa Herrera, Ramon Bautista and Mike Concepcion dug up personal items from their closets and donated them to PRC.
The idea for Aid Couture was in place even before Typhoon Yolanda hit the Philippines. That the event was scheduled just eight days after calamity struck was pure coincidence. If this weekend’s event did well, she said, they could probably make this an ongoing event, possibly popping up in Makati or The Fort for a weekend, maybe even setting up a kiosk that would be open year-round. Right now though, they just had to focus on selling as many items of clothing as possible.
In the two hours leading up to the opening, stylist Melvin Mojica, who was on hand all weekend to help with the visual merchadising of the clothing, walked in and out of the backstage area carrying armloads of clothing and neatly arranging them on the racks. This would later prove to be an exercise in futility because two hours after the event opened, jeans ended up piled bazaar-style in the center area for easy access, mannequins were unceremoniously undressed by shoppers, and on the second day when all items were priced at P150, the clothing Melvin and Change Clothes PH founder Vicky Herrera carried to re-stock the floor ended up being yanked straight out of their arms. “Intense!†he said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.
Later on in the day, a team from Stylebible.com guided shoppers through the chaos by choosing clothes for them and showing them how they could be styled. Partners and stylists Jujiin Samonte and Paulo Castro took over the next day to also give a couple of styling pointers. “Helping is what ties a community together. It doesn’t matter how or with what, helping keeps the fire of hope burning,†Jujiin answered when I asked about his involvement. As the event drew to a close, special items such as an anorak from Ely Buendia, a “Tower Sessions†shirt from Yan Yuzon, an autographed The Abangers shirt from Ramon Bautista, along with a beautiful Twist and Silk Hermés scarf from an anonymous donor were sold via silent auction.
All in all, the total amount of sales generated in just two days amounted to half a million pesos, a success even by fashion industry standards, especially when you consider that the merchandise was comprised of clothing that, up until two months ago, was just collecting dust in the PRC warehouses. “Not everything old that we don’t use anymore should be disposed of. We in the Philippine Red Cross acknowledge the importance of every single donation we receive. And this project utilizes these clothing items we have not used and converts them into something useful for people,†Dr. Gwen Pang, secretary-general of The Philippine Red Cross, said during her opening remarks. “Whatever you can get today, whatever you can buy, will mean sharing something really, really big for those people who have nothing left to start with.†If this weekend was any indication, the remaining piles of clothing in PRC’s warehouses could be worth even more than they could’ve hoped for.