Vintage Meets Modern With Wallflower Collection

Wallflower Collection is a small business that sells dainty handmade accessories — mainly brooches and hair accessories. Their products have a cottagecore and vintage aesthetic which has been slowly reiving over the past few years.

Its founder, Rhona Casco, began selling ukay-ukay or preloved clothes which began during the first year of the pandemic, around mid-2020. She began by selling old clothes using her Shopee account through their live selling feature and got interested in starting her own ukay business, so she jumped along with the help of her mother.

Wallflower came from her Shopee username and she decided to incorporate this into her business name.

“While selling preloved clothes, I managed to watch how top sellers styled their products. I observed that there was a demand for the lolita, vintage, and cottage core styles. I noticed that some sellers pinned vintage ribbon brooches on their regular polos and skirts and then sold it as a lolita or vintage set.” Rhona shares.

This inspired her to try incorporating this style into her clothing products but then discovered that these vintage brooches were quite pricey so she decided to make her own.

Rhona began learning how to craft vintage-style ribbon brooches and began adding them to the clothes they sold. Customers then started inquiring about the ribbon brooches being sold individually.

“Because of all the inquiries, I gave in and started selling ribbon brooches. One brooch design led to another and I started to create hair accessories too. Eventually, I quit the whole ukay-ukay venture and focused on making handmade accessories. ” said Rhona.

“I learned how to create, sell, and market these products on my own. It wasn’t easy gaining a following and getting multiple orders. I often planned to clear out the materials I had left and refrain from restocking thinking that people won’t order anymore, but they do.” she adds.

Despite her successful business, Rhona thought she was being impulsive and shallow.

“I even thought that the name of our shop was shallow too, but now that I look back at how this all managed to progress and what our products are like, the name “Wallflower Collection” makes a whole lot more sense.  A wallflower is like a shy or awkward person that would rather not get involved and would be just satisfied observing or being part of things but not being the center of attention”

When asked about the best part of her business, Rhona says “I get to add or send out something beautiful to every customer that comes our way, and it’s something that won’t break the bank! That’s pretty much our goal.”

Wallflower Collection has a series of accessories available for purchase on Instagram and Shopee. They are also open to bulk orders.