Sara and George: Reimagining PH Fashion with Sáhì and MANILA

Friends-turned-partners Sara Castañeda and George Zaldivar co-founded two local brands — namely, Sáhì Studios and MANILA the Studio — set on reimagining Philippine fashion. Sáhì Studios features an extensive collection of unique earrings born from their shared love for quirky accessories. MANILA the Studio, on the other hand, offers various apparel made from piña fabric from its partner community of skilled weavers in Aklan to integrate the country’s rich history into every piece.

The pair of entrepreneurs have known each other since elementary, but they each had their own circles growing up. Over time, however, their relationship deepened to the point where they now consider one another as family. “Basically, we are sisters at this point,” said Castañeda. The professional partnership only came later during their time at Ateneo De Manila University — where both studied BS Management — when they first conceived their dream of starting their own fashion brand.

“I think Sara and I balance each other so well; we’ve got our own strengths that happen to fit what we need,” Zaldivar noted. Castañeda handles the financial side of their brands while Zaldivar is more geared towards marketing, but both of them are heavily involved in the ideation and design process for each of their products.

Their common appreciation for Filipino brands is what led them to launch their two brands. “It all started with a conversation on the fifth floor of Rizal library in the Ateneo around 6 years ago. Sara and I were talking about what we’d do with our lives then ended up having a long and extensive conversation about our dreams of having a clothing brand,” explained Zaldivar. “As college students though, it was difficult for us to find the time to do it nor did we have the money to even start what we were hoping to achieve.”

“After college, we both went into corporate and I myself work in fashion now for a big company, but I don’t really have that much influence over the items I handle,” added Castañeda. ” I was feeling like I wanted to have more of myself in what I do, which is a sentiment George shared with me. So she was also working for a company at the time when we both started to discuss actualizing our college pipe dreams.”

They launched Sáhì Studios in April 2021 to serve as a stepping stone for their aspirations. Moreover, this particular brand enabled them to introduce the curious world of unconventional accessories to their consumers — setting it apart from its competitors — to “bring a little OOMPH” to everyone’s outfits. “For the both of us, that was the first taste of something that was truly just ours — we did everything from modeling the products to setting up our website to packing the orders and doing customer support,” expressed the two entrepreneurs. It has been a little over a year since Sáhì Studios was unveiled, but the brand continues to prosper.

MANILA the Studio, which launched earlier this year, is the duo’s dream come to life. The brand draws inspiration from everything that the pair were exposed to throughout their upbringings such as old Filipino songs, folklores, and even native flora. They attempt to reimagine silhouettes while staying true to their Filipino roots, making sure that each piece is sourced and crafted locally.

“When we were doing the samples, we were both super hands-on with it. We have different personal styles when it comes to clothing so MANILA is really a reflection of the both of us and our interests combined,” they elaborated. “The whole process–from finding suppliers to designing and testing–was stressful because we were both perfectionists and wanted everything to go well and smoothly for our little dream. It was also challenging that we both didn’t have any design background.”

Other struggles also grew prevalent with both of their brands being introduced amidst the global pandemic. “We couldn’t meet up with our suppliers and manufacturer in person since everyone wanted to be as cautious as possible. Like other businesses during the pandemic, we had to settle with having online meetings, which wasn’t so bad. Our timeline would also get moved a lot because of covid scares,” they noted. Zaldivar is also currently working in Spain, which adds another layer of complexity. Despite these, however, the two have managed to keep their brands afloat.

Moving forward, they hope to make Sáhì and MANILA completely transparent and sustainable in the future. At the moment, the pair are working on new collections for the two brands. To shop their pieces follow sahistudios and manilathestudio on Instagram and other social media platforms. For MANILA, consumers may also visit their website to learn more about the brand.