“When I was 22 the elevator pitch I think was as vague as ‘Denuo: Philippines’ number one vintage store,’ things like that,” Denuo’s brand caretaker Monica Vivar told Lifestyle Inquirer. A lot has changed for the brand since then. For one, its current brand ethos is “sustaining intimacy” or the things we need for much more.
Since Denuo’s inception in 2012, many online thrift, secondhand, preloved, vintage, upcycled, and what-have-you stores have popped up. And that’s a good sign according to Vivar, who at the beginning of the brand only wanted to build a brand she wishes she saw when she was 20.
“I’m so happy to see so many men and women feel empowered to recirculate their clothes. It’s not at all like a negative or a bad take on circulation, I do believe that it’s a process,” she said. “When we started 2012, I didn’t know anybody else that was doing what we were doing. And it’s so nice to feel like there’s a community, even if we might not all understand each other. For me, I feel like we’re all part of the same goal, which is we all want to add value to our lives.”
Denuo in the strictest sense is not like any other business. In fact, if you ask Vivar to describe it, “business” would be the last word you will hear (It helps that she is very good with words!). It is not your typical model where profit outweighs every other aspect. In truth, it may even be the inverse. “A lot of people are saying, ‘if it’s not earning you so much, what do you guys mean, I don’t understand the purpose of it. And where is it going to go?’” Vivar, ever a people person, answers this in an amicable yet sensible manner, “Because, in essence, it’s very small business. And I never had an intention for it to become bigger and bigger and bigger. I’ve always wanted to not have the brand itself be just about products because I really wanted people to broaden their perspective of the value of the thing.”
What gives Vivar and her team the satisfaction equivalent to a Wallstreet broker’s share is the stories they get from people they meet through the brand. But that is not to say Denuo is everyone’s cup of tea. Every once in a while, Vivar told Lifestyle Inquirer, they’d get a complaint about how something is not priced properly—by properly, the customer means priced competitively like any massed produced clothing brand. What she and her team learned is that sometimes, you just have to communicate the value of a thing and hope people will get it, hence the museum-like curatorial notes appended on each listing on Denuo’s website.
“But I am honestly so proud to be a small Filipino business that’s able to show like a small shoe, or like a box, or a bag, and remind everyone that it’s really pretty. And it has very little to do with the actual product, but about your connection to the piece. We really value what materializes in our space. And so hopefully, it will carry on to someone else.”
