Proudrace to young designers: ‘Solidify your identity’

For a brand that started out by producing T-shirts parodying famous labels, local streetwear brand Proudrace has certainly come a long way. Starting out as the little underground label that could, funded completely out of Pat Bondoc and Rik Rasos’ pockets, and threatened with a lawsuit during their first year of production, the brand now has stockists all over Asia, all the way to the US and Europe and has been worn by international artists, like Grimes, A$AP Rocky and Alison Wonderland. Arguably the first RTW line from Manila that has gained international recognition and distribution in just three short years, young designers have a lot to learn from the duo behind the brand. Last weekend, they headed over to Ayala Museum for their annual DesignTalks to talk about how they took a small indie label like theirs to the global market. Here are the top six lessons YStyle gleaned from their presentation:

Lesson #1: Don’t be discouraged

In 2007, Proudrace’s Rik Rasos and Pat Bondoc initially made a name for themselves by parodying Henry Holland’s famous slogan T-shirts, which had cheeky copy, like “Do me daily Christopher Bailey.” They decided to make local versions for local fashion personalities. Xtina Superstar, who made this year’s Preview Best Dressed list, had one that said “Oohlala lala Xtina,” while another for model/muse Ria Bolivar stated: “Yer my shining star Ria Bolivar.” Everyone had a good laugh until the brand received a cease and desist letter from Holland himself. Their last shirt read: “Banned by Henry Holland.”

When the issue blew over, they decided to work on a new collection. “It wasn’t really something that we did full-time, so our pace was really slow. One sample after one sample. A few months passed and we found ourselves swamped with all of the samples that we made. So we just trimmed down the selection and tweaked some of it and that’s how we came up with our first collection,” the pair told Them.sg. ‘93 Til Infinity, their first proper collection for spring/summer 2010, ended up being picked up by Blackmarket, a boutique in Singapore.

Lesson #2: Don’t get stuck in a box

Their experience with Holland didn’t discourage Proudrace, who produced their “N°1 Crush” shirt, a parody of the Chanel logo, for their fall/winter 2010 collection. It turned out to be one of the best-selling pieces out of everything they’ve ever made and is still being reproduced until now, but only for distribution overseas. They followed that up in their spring/summer 2012 collection with their “Virgin” shirt, which parodied the Versace logo. The shirt also turned out to be a best-seller and has been seen on Canadian musician Claire Boucher, also known as Grimes. Although it would have been easy for Rasos and Bondoc to keep cashing in on their witty brand parody shirts, they decided to try making original prints.

Films turned to be a major source of inspiration for their customized prints: For their fall/winter 2012 Dark Waves collection, they introduced their shark print, inspired by Jaws. Their next original print was for their 1990Nile spring/summer 2013 collection, which featured their “Sad Girl 93” shirts, inspired by the protagonist of the 1993 film, Mi Vida Loca, and their customized Egyptian prints. Because of this collection, they were able to get representation in Japanese showrooms, and pieces from the collection have since been seen on rap artists like Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Rocky and British hip-hop and dubstep group, Foreign Beggars. Their current collection, Talibanned, features their “Heavy Metal” shirts, which was spotted recently on DJ Alison Wonderland and was inspired by the Vice magazine documentary, Heavy Metal in Baghdad.

Lesson #3: Keep your eyes open

You’ll notice that Proudrace’s influences and sources of inspiration range from weird to totally random, like souvenir shirts, ‘90s Metallica rock tees, tattoo art, pop stars, MTV, pop culture references from the ‘90s and, interstingly, Livejournal. “One of the characteristics of Proudrace as a brand is we’re not afraid to have fun. We can be a bit campy at times and self-deprecating, but most of the time we just want to show that we’re the same brand that started three years ago,” Bondoc said. While he would describe their mish-mash of inspiration as an “appreciation for camp and kitsch,” Rasos calls it a mix of “soft and hard.” The most obvious instance of this is the shark print from their Dark Waves collection. The addition of roses, according to Rasos, was to “soften” the print up and make it “more romantic.”

Apart from taking cues from other streetwear, skater and sportswear brands, they’ve also looked to the way certain subcultures dress for style inspiration. For instance, the baggy button-downs worn by prisoners and “cholos,” along with their tattoos served as the inspiration behind their Heartcore fall/winter 2011 collection, while the appropriation of sportswear by the “cholas” in Mi Vida Loca inspired their “Sad Girl 93” shirts. Think of it as “cultural appropriation,” as YStyle editor Bea Ledesma would say.

Lesson #4: Hold the collaborations

“If you’re a young label, until you’ve found your style, maybe you should delay collaborations with other artists,” Rasos advised. In the beginning, the types of collaborations that Proudrace did involved working with young photographers and directors on marketing collaterals, like lookbooks and videos. Then in 2011, they produced a shirt for Mei Bastes’ Meiday Poster Exhibit, which featured the work of artists, graphic designers, photographers and fellow fashion designers. Later that year, they worked with director Judd Figuerres, another longtime collaborator on Tragic Youth, which they submitted to Thread On Frame, a fashion film series curated by Blackmarket in Singapore. Last month, Bondoc and Rasos created one-off Proudrace pieces for their dog, Lisbon, and for Fuzi, the kitten of Garovs and Ryan Vergara for YStyle’s collaborations issue.

So far, most of the collaborations they’ve done are fashion films, the most recent one being Hide and Seek, a fashion film directed by Samantha Lee for Preview magazine. However, they’ve got a collaboration with Team Manila lined up, “to reach a wider audience,” according to Bondoc, and a children’s line with Goo Goo and Gaga.

Lessson #5: Use social media to your advantage

While hashtagging is an obvious marketing tool, as a local brand with limited funds, making the most out of social media was essential to the growth of Proudrace because you never know who’s going to be reading. For instance, Rasos recounted when Coûte Que Coûte, a partner blog of Pop magazine, featured their 1990Nile collection, a buyer from Japan reached out and asked if they could stock their label. Street style websites also garnered plenty of attention for the brand, especially when Rasos spotted their own clothing on the Japanese street style blogs that he and Bondoc frequent. Bondoc agreed, adding, “We’ve used social media and the Internet for promoting our brand and getting to the places where we are now, a lot of which we haven’t even been to ourselves.”

Lesson #6: Know where you want to go

Currently, Proudrace can be found in multiple stockists in at least 20 cities all over the world. Just recently, they’ve been able to gain representation in Paris and London, which they’ve described as a particularly difficult market to crack, since they prefer heritage brands over up-and-coming labels. Curiously, local stockists weren’t the first ones to come knocking: “We started getting attention from local buyers when we were already established in other countries,” Bondoc notes.

When approaching stockists, Bondoc gives certain pointers: “You have to know where you want to be and you have to make sure you’re presenting yourselves to the correct stockists. You have to do research, sometimes you have to go there yourselves and check the price points, and the look and feel of the store and the other brands. You have to make sure that when you present yourselves, you are a perfect fit for the store.” Rasos adds, “And then if you’re lucky, you get more attention from other stockists. You really need to solidify your identity and just put the DNA of your label out there.”