BAG LADIES by Tammy David

This story is about women from popular Manila dumpsite Payatas who with the help of top local fashion designers and award winning social business enterprise “Rags2Riches” make fashionable bags out of scrap cloth. What used to be a stepped on before entering a house is a fashion accessory being sold in top department stores.

This sustainable livelihood is an example of creative economies wherein big players of the creative industry help stimulate the economy by providing jobs and creating new products with available resources. Aside from the extra income these women earn from bag sales, the “riches” they apparently get are new skills, knowledge in bag design, values formation with their institution head Fr. Xavier as well as friendship with different communities in Payatas under the Rags2Riches program.

© Tammy David