From bags to riches
Surely, the lowly bayong has come a long, long way from a trite basket you lugged to the palengke to buy foodstuff to a chic tote bag that women carry everywhere. You can say the bayong has become so sosi. Which is exactly what two good friends — Epety Cabana-Dulay and Nerissa Añonuevo-Subido — call their bayongs. Theirs is a proudly Philippine-made success story — of weaving a basketful of dreams and turning bags to riches.
“Our buyers call our bayongs sosi,” says Nerissa with a hint of pride. “They have been brought to the US, Canada, Europe, Bangkok, and Hong Kong by me and our loyal and return buyers.”
An environment-friendly alternative to plastic bags, the bayong has been elevated to a fashion article you certainly wouldn’t mind toting to a sosi event.
“We have transformed the lowly and ordinary bayongs into something fashionable, mostly one-of-a kind designs, and yet are practical and eco-friendly,” Nerissa points out.
The bayongs are made of pandan, a palm-like tropical plant that grows in the wild, and sourced from Luciana, Quezon. They’re customized per customers’ specifications and painstakingly and lovingly made by hand. For a touch of chic, they’re covered in handsewn fabric. Epety used to hoard all the retasos and other scrap materials from her aunt’s upholstery shop.
A humble home-based industry, these charming stylized bayongs have found their way into the US, Canada, Europe, and Hong Kong with return buyers bringing them as pasalubongs (feast on some eye candy in Facebook Stylized Bayong Bags).
“We sell by word of mouth or through my Facebook page Stylized Bayong Bags or under my account name Nerissa Añonuevo Subido,” Nerissa informs us.
Having bagged enviable success, Nerissa adds, “We also sell at reputable bazaars. On September 8 and 9, we will be at the Zonta Charity Bazaar at Rockwell. We used to sell regularly at the Centris (Sidcor) Fleamarket and they’re really a hit come the ‘ber’ months (like now).”
At the flea market, the sosi bayongs sell like the proverbial hot cakes. “We would sell an average of 150 bags in only two hours, so we would always pack up early,” an amused Nerissa shares.
The bags are still affordable even if prices have been adjusted from P400 to 600.
No doubt about it, these two “bag ladies” have it in the bag!
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Want to grab a sosi bayong? Call Nerissa Subido at her cell phone number 09053241088 or home number 922-3002.
