How Lally Dizon bagged the right market

Lally Cruz Dizon started her career as a money market trader in two investment houses right after she finished college at the Ateneo, but her calling to be in the creative field led her to quit her job to study interior design. In the midst of her design classes, she realized that she wanted to put her efforts and artistic energy in the family business that was set up in 1982 by her parents, Ding and Edna Cruz, who founded Martinique International, a bag manufacturer. The company had been successful exporting to Japan, USA and Europe with their designs that featured local natural materials such as abaca, raffia, buntal and bancuang.

In 2000, Lally joined her parents and was in charge of the design and product development department. She made sure that the international buyers were satisfied with the quality and would keep coming back regularly to reorder. However, in 2006, the bag exporting industry started to decline and most companies closed down. Buyers were few and far between due to the recession plus there was competition for cheaper labor in other Asian countries.  

Soon after, she pioneered another business called Vintage Restore with equally enterprising sister Trisha Cruz-Cuason –– a bag shop that mainly repaired and restored luxury handbags and other leather goods. This was an offshoot of the company’s knowhow in making bags from scratch and being in the business for many decades. The new concept made it a one-stop shop so customers would be able to customize a bag designed with a special artistic touch. The Lally Dizon for Vintage Restore label was born with her mother’s financial help. From designing bags made of indigenous materials for the foreign market, there was a shift to designing leather and snakeskin bags for the Philippine market.  

Within a few years of slowly building her business, Lally wanted her line to evolve and cater to discriminating buyers who wanted luxe bags that were meticulously handmade in the Philippines. With an upgraded look, packaging and brand, she launched the Oro Barra (Spanish for gold bar) Collection at Manila Fame. The crocodile clutch bags came in a variety of vibrantly hued colors — canary yellow, grass green, ocean teal and wild violet with an accent piece of a flat 18k to 24k gold-plated brass bar highlighted with a stunning semi-precious center stone that came in a choice of a peridot, amethyst, garnet or white sapphire.  

Lally proudly reminisces, “Being one of the hand-picked designers of Josie Natori to be part of Manila Wear last year gave me an opportunity to introduce my very first line of crocodile bags and accessories. The response was amazing. Discriminating customers bought my pieces despite a pretty steep price tag (croc clutches range from P35,000 to P45,000, croc cuffs from P7,000 to P15,000 and belts at P9,000 to P14,000). With the success of this first collection, I extended the line by using python skin and mixed it with patent leather and other snakeskins. To complement the clutches, I did my first cuff creation — the Ventana Cuff, a design inspired by windows featuring a wide crocodile cuff in gold plated brass with four semiprecious stones.”

For her latest collection, which was named Una Piedra (Spanish for One Stone), python was used to complement the Year of the Snake. What makes the collection very attractive is the color contrast of the exotic reptile skin against the bright color of the crocodile skin and the semi-precious center stone on a newly designed trapezoid shaped clutch.  

Artistic Lally has been selected by Citem as one of the designers to represent the Philippines in the upcoming prestigious MACEF trade show in Milan and the Fashion and Accessory show in Hong Kong in September. I am sure she will make our country proud with her beautifully handcrafted bags and accessories that can compare with the best of the best (at a fraction of luxe brands).  

* * *

The Lally Dizon bags and accessories are available at Vintage Restore, White Plains and Makati, Cura V in Power Plant Mall, Rockwell and soon at Tint, Greenbelt 3. For more information on Lally Dizon bags: www.lallydizon.comor www.vintagerestoremanila.com or e-mail lcd@lallydizon.com.

For comments and ideas, e-mail the author at jacinto.fa@gmail.com.