The secrets of fashion brand’s success

Model Heidi Klum’s famous line on the popular franchise Project Runway goes ‘’In fashion, one day you’re in, the next day, you’re out.’’

This fully encapsulates how fast changes in the dynamic fashion business can be. To be a success in the retail and fashion industry, one must carve out its own niche and be able to stand out. One such brand that was able to establish its reputation is Plains & Prints, and it is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

Established in 1994 by husband and wife team Erickson and Roxanne Farillas with only P90,000 as capital, Plains & Prints started out as a small, 11-square meter kiosk in the Greenhills shopping district. It was a way for Roxanne to combine her two great loves: fashion and business.

“I’ve always been very passionate about working in retail and clothes. Even when my husband and I were in college, I liked to design clothes and sell it to my classmates,” Farillas says.

In the beginning, it was just the Farillas couple handling everything in the business. Erickson would handle the operations while Roxanne headed the merchandising and marketing aspects. It was in these initial days the couple learned how being hands-on pays off in establishing a company.

“It was just us two. Even now, we still consider ourselves very hands-on with the business. For example, I still personally train our marketing team to ensure each job is accomplished just as we want it,” Roxanne adds.

In that amount of time, the brand has established itself as a label for the young, urban, sophisticated women’s wear market. At present, Plains & Prints has over 70 branches nationwide.

One secret of Plains & Prints success, Farillas thinks, is their willingness to collaborate with other creative individuals who embody what the brand represents, or who have the same vision as the owners. In fact, this has led them to pioneer in several ideas and techniques in producing clothes, among them, as one of the first local brands to use digital printing technology for its collections.

“We want to push the boundaries when it comes to fashion. Digital printing, for instance, gave a bold effect on clothes, so we thought to be the first Filipino brand to use it,” explains Farillas.

Another aspect has made Plains and Prints stand out is their continuous championing of Filipino designers. Top fashion names such as Rajo Laurel, Randy Ortiz, and Rhett Eala have all created collections for the brand.

“We want to show the world Filipino design is beautiful, so we were very adamant about getting Filipino designers come collaborate with us. In fact, I think we’re the first brand to showcase Filipino designers this way,” says Farillas. “We don’t want to be just another clothing brand but instead, create an image as a platform for Filipino design.”

Going global, strengthening the local

Plains and Prints has been reaping accolades both here and abroad. The brand has won twice the Philippine Retailers Association’s Outstanding Filipino Retailer award. It has also won the Most Promising Filipino Franchise Award, and the most recent one, the Go Negosyo Top Filipino Entrepreneurs for 2015. Plains and Prints attributes these to their clear vision of championing local fashion.

“It’s always been our vision to be the Philippine’s premium fashion and beauty brand to the world. We want to be the pride of every woman’s closet; we want to make an indelible mark in the global fashion scene and do our country proud,” Farillas says.