When VINTA Gallery first came to fruition, Caroline Mangosing was the founder and executive director of the Kapisanan Philippine Center for Arts and Culture, a youth-focused cultural center located in downtown Toronto, Canada. With over 350,000 Filipinos in Toronto at the time (and not a single shop where you can buy high quality barongs and ternos), naturally people would call Kapisanan to ask for Filipino cultural clothing.
Flashback to 2004 — meeting through a mutual friend, Estelita Lagman (VINTA Gallery’s founding master couturier) made Caroline’s wedding dress, after Caroline sent a technical sketch via email through her mom.
Estelita has been in the couture industry in Manila for over 30 years, having worked with high profile Manila-based fashion designers, and then eventually working for herself with a loyal clientele. The dress arrived in a Fed-Ex box simply PERFECT.
Although it took close to a decade, Caroline promised Estelita that she would create a company that would highlight her talent to the world. Research and development of VINTA Gallery started in 2009, and was launched as a social enterprise within Kapisanan in 2013. In 2016, it was incorporated as a for-profit/private business, and launched as an e-commerce brand catering to the world.
Estelita’s skilled hands are the foundation of VINTA Gallery’s old school (high) quality tailoring and fit. Estelita retired in 2019. We have since brought in Yanyan Mangogtong, a young, third generation tailor, and effortlessly talented couturier. We are so fortunate to have her on board to build on Estelita’s legacy with VINTA.
We are a women-owned and run, vertically integrated, ethical small business, focused on slow and sustainable fashion rooted in heritage.