Avel x Matteo jeans collaboration opens pop-up at Uptown Mall

THE JEANS line of Filipino fashion designer Avel Bacudio and celebrity Matteo Guidicelli opens its first in-store pop-up mall in Megaworld’s Uptown Mall in Taguig with plans to tour the store in other Megaworld malls in the country.

Launched two months ago via Southeast Asian e-commerce store, Shopee, the Avel x Matteo jeans includes a collection of seven mens’ and five women’s styles, all of which harbor Mr. Guidicelli’s aesthetic of being “sexy yet wearable,” according to a press release.

“It’s doing well, that’s why we [now] have a pop-up store,” Mr. Bacudio told BusinessWorld in vernacular shortly after the store launch on Sept. 20.

This is their first in-mall pop-up store though they did open a similar pop-up store in ABS-CBN’s ELJ Building in August.

The jeans feature a soft and super stretchable material inspired by the Los Angelesbased premium denim brand, 7 for All Mankind, but for a fraction of the price as Mr. Guidicelli noted on Mr. Bacudio’s website.

“This collection we made makes designer jeans accessible to a broader market,” said Mr. Guidicelli.

And owing it to Mr. Guidicelli’s sexy yet wearable aesthetic, some of the ripped jeans designs are meant to “show just the right amount of skin, making then subtly sexy and easy to pair with anything,” according to Mr. Bacudio’s website.

The pop-up store will be open at Uptown Mall until Sept. 30. The store is located at the upper ground floor Atrium of the mall.

Each pair of jeans is priced at P1,499 and part of the proceeds will go towards building a shelter for the Northern Luzon Association for the Blind Inc.’s (NLAB) School for the Blind, a school Mr. Bacudio has been supporting for a long time.

“It’s heartening to see that I could help through my jeans,” Mr. Bacudio said before adding that it was Megaworld that approached him and offered the pop-up store space for free.

“Renting out a physical space is expensive and if I have to part with that much money for a store, I’d rather put it towards my advocacy,” he said.

This is also the reason why they opted to start selling the jeans through the online store.

Megaworld, according to Mr. Bacudio, is keen to bring the pop-up store to other Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Newport Mall in Pasay and even in the regions.

Aside from the current collection, he revealed that they will soon be introducing limited edition designs called “20/20” this October.

He said they are also planning to expand the collection to feature other items such as tops, but it would have to wait until they have established the brand.

The Avel x Matteo jeans pop-up store will be at Uptown Mall in Taguig until Sept. 30. The jeans are also available online via the official store on Shopee. —