The Story of the Versions Collection

The R2R Woman is a true Versionary: She is a loving daughter, a hardworking mom, a generous friend, a goal-getting career woman, a compassionate Filipina, a purposeful citizen of the world, and so much more––all at once. These versions of the R2R Woman may overlap but, true to their nature, they ask for different mindsets, take her to contrasting environments, and bring about the most colorful of moods.

Our S/S 2017 collection, VERSIONS, embraces this beautiful complexity and adapts to the multiple transformations the R2R Woman makes every day, weaving together the values she carries.

Each piece in VERSIONS transforms into two completely different personas. There’s a bag that changes from a large tote into a drawstring pouch, another that collapses from a flat tote into a hobo crossbody, and a third one that expands from a handbag to a tall sling bag.

While the collection adapts to the different versions of the R2R Woman, there are elements that remain the same. Like all R2R pieces, this collection fuses intelligent and functional design together with local and artisanal details. VERSIONS exhibits the signature R2R weave in the joyful colors of red, teal and mustard, and presents, for the first time, the indigenous weave of Binetwagan from Ilocos.

VERSIONS is intentionally designed for the multi-faceted R2R Woman to use in a variety of contexts while distilling her essentials to things that matter.

The Three Communities Behind the Versions Collection

I. R2R Urban Artisans for the Signature R2R Weave

The signature R2R weave, as seen on most R2R pieces, is the heart and soul of every R2R bag, woven by our amazing urban artisans from their homes in different parts of Metro Manila. It’s both traditional and modern, made with a technique that has been used for so long but has also evolved throughout the years––and the social enterprise is still cultivating that evolution. The magic starts in the homes of our urban community-based artisans where they take strips of fabric, knot them together, and weave them using a simple wooden frame with perfectly calibrated nails.

For VERSIONS, the signature R2R weave comes in the joyful colors of red, mustard, and teal.

II. Artisans from Ilocos for the Binetwagan Indigenous Fabric

It is the first time R2R is using the Binetwagan indigenous weave in a collection. This textile is a kind of Abel Iloko weave from the province of Ilocos. Historically, weaves hailing from Ilocos were used as sails for the galleon ships during the Spanish Era because of its durability. They were also used as tributes like gold as it was considered at par with the brocade textile of Europe back then. One interesting fact of Abel Iloko weaves is that they were used by the Ilokanos to communicate safely to one another during the colonization period. They did this by passing on the embroidered designs of the cloth from one town to the next.

For VERSIONS, there was only one textile weaver who worked on the Binetwagan fabric of the bag, Dedicacion Arriola.

III. R2R Workshop Artisans

These artisans are the ones running our humble workshop, assembling the R2R bags to perfection before they land in our stores. They work in-house in the R2R HQ.