Founder and Creative Director of VINTA Gallery, Caroline Mangosing, sat with pop culture analyst Stacy Lee Kong of Friday Things to chat all things VINTA.
If you don’t already know how VINTA Gallery all began, you’re in for a treat. Caroline goes way back and shares VINTA’s evolution, from its humble beginnings as part of the non-profit organization, Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts and Culture, to the for-profit sustainable and slow fashion brand it is today.
But it wasn’t without hard work. Caroline talks about being in the New York City fashion scene as an aspiring photographer in the cut-throat, toxic and misogynist world of fashion in the 90s. She had to pave her own way and eventually found meaning and purpose in Toronto as Executive Director of a Filipino youth arts centre and later a fashion designer.
Entitled "Caroline Mangosing on Finding Her Way Back to Fashion," it’s a jam-packed episode, as Caroline shares her people-centred business philosophy, big wins as an entrepreneur, her vision for the company and its exciting growth.
Caroline: “Something’s happening. We’re having to expand, we’re having to grow, we’re having to make more product because we are selling more. Every month, we’re having to sell more and having to make more to sell more. So that part is surprising.”
Stacy: “Why is that surprising to you?”
Caroline: “It’s surprising because I never thought that it’d be so successful.”
Stacy: “The connection between how excited I was, as someone who’s not Filipino but someone who, you know, likes beautiful things, it doesn’t surprise me that other people are really excited about what you’re doing, too. Especially when you put in the cultural piece, like 'this is a connection to my history and my people' — that’s very compelling, I think. And right now, people want to invest in well-made things, they want to think sustainably, they want things that will last. You’re really at the intersection of a lot of things.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
Caroline also goes into depth about sizing and shares this fun fact: “There’s no such thing as ‘standard size.’ Every company makes up their own size.” Caroline adjusted and expanded VINTA clothing sizes and measurements to fit the range of people across the diaspora, especially in the United States. New offerings now include XL, +XL and XXL.
Watch the full video below and get a closer, in-depth look into Caroline’s world. Thanks so much to Stacy for featuring VINTA Gallery in the first episode of “Friday Talks”!
Watch until the end when Stacy tries on three different VINTA Gallery pieces (The Filipino Crop Barong in Bubblegum Pink, Terno Mini Dress in the Sumpa Kita Print and Deep-V Midi Ruffle Terno) and Caroline explains the meaning behind each garment.
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