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Behind the Pattern, San Francisco, CA (2026)

02/23/2021

Our last installment with Ren Buenviaje, the founder of travel-inspired apparel brand Common Skies Est. MMXX:

How does your cultural background affect your approach to your business?

When I was in high school, clothes in catalogs and teen magazines were predominantly modeled by white girls. As a Filipina immigrant, I already felt left out of American culture in many ways, so I never felt like those clothes were made for me. With Common Skies, I want to create a brand where people are able to envision themselves in the clothes, regardless of who they are or where they come from. Everything from the design of the clothes to the scenarios we photograph to the graphics we use are created with that in mind.

Quality is also another focal point for Common Skies. I want to create things people will use and enjoy for a long time. I was raised in an immigrant household so I am frugal, but I will pay for quality. When I first launched the brand, my family was appalled at how much I was charging. But when they saw and felt the product, they were like, “Oh, well this is worth it.”

Get 20% off Common Skies with an exclusive discount for Behind the Pattern readers!
Discount code: BTP20

✨ Read the full interview on our blog: https://buff.ly/3sgChNp✨

02/22/2021

What are your favorite Common Skies items?

Common Skies Est. MMXX founder Ren Buenviaje: "Hands down, our tees are the best. It was the product we started with. They are silky soft and breathable and drape really nicely, so there’s no such thing as getting a size that’s too big. The oversized look is really on trend right now, but I think our shirts will last beyond that. They’re very easy to dress up or dress down. Also, the material doesn’t pill and the colors on the print don’t fade with repeated washing.

Our bomber jackets have the same versatility. They’re great to throw on for a video call to dress up your loungewear now, and they’ll look great on date nights later. It’s also a classic cut—bomber jackets never go out of style.

This is not an item per se, but my favorite thing about Common Skies is that every design comes with a detailed description of the place that inspired it, which can be found in our blog, The Wanderlust. Since my passion for faraway places inspired me to start the brand, I wanted to share that feeling of wanderlust and encourage others to explore new places, too."

Get 20% off Common Skies with an exclusive discount for Behind the Pattern readers!
Discount code: BTP20

✨ Read the full interview on our blog: https://buff.ly/3sgChNp ✨

02/21/2021

Why is it important to buy from sustainable and ethical fashion brands?

“I get into some interesting conversations with folks about the cost of fashion these days. They want to know why I charge what I charge. When people buy a $10 t-shirt, they are unaware of the social and ethical costs of that purchase. Behind the money they save, there are underpaid workers working in dangerous conditions and with ridiculous quotas to fill because fast fashion companies are always racing to get the latest trends on the racks. And when people are done with those $10 clothes, they just throw them away.

There is no perfect way to address this issue, but one thing we can all do is buy from brands that ensure better working conditions for their staff and minimize waste. At Common Skies, we use OEKO-TEX certified inks and materials, so our products are free of harmful chemicals used in some other manufacturing facilities. Our packaging is made of recycled material and items are made to order, so we don’t waste unsold inventory.”

-Ren Buenviaje, the Filipina American founder of travel-inspired apparel brand Common Skies Est. MMXX, makes cool and comfortable clothing for lounging in style.

Get 20% off Common Skies with an exclusive discount for Behind the Pattern readers!
Discount code: BTP20

✨ Read the full interview on our blog: https://buff.ly/3sgChNp ✨

.mmxx

02/20/2021

We caught up this week with Ren Buenviaje, the Filipina American founder of travel-inspired apparel brand Common Skies Est. MMXX. She makes clothing that is cool and comfortable—perfect for both lounging at home and going out.

Why did you start your business?
It was a combination of things. Being cooped up indoors all the time had me feeling nostalgic, so I started having my old travel photos professionally printed. They looked unexpectedly great, and I wondered what they would look like on a t-shirt. Not long after that, I left my job due to burnout. We were a few months into the pandemic by then, and I knew a lot of people who were buying loungewear. I was personally starting to get tired of the solids and neutrals a lot of companies were offering.

Initially, I was trying to make something for me—something lounge-y and versatile (as in, I’d want to wear it in public when the pandemic is over) that would spark joy by reminding me of faraway places. I happened to find a manufacturer who uses a wonderfully silky soft material for their tees, and I pretty much lived in those shirts for the rest of the summer. From there, the idea just took off. I was supposed to be taking a break until the end of 2020, but I am not very good at sitting still.

Get 20% off Common Skies with an exclusive discount for Behind the Pattern readers!
Discount code: BTP20

✨ Read the full interview on our blog: https://buff.ly/3sgChNp ✨

01/26/2021

How does your cultural background affect your approach to business?
Hathorway founder Jessica Phan: My cultural background makes being ethical completely mindless; I don’t even think about it because it’s so embedded in me that it’s the only way. During my last trip to Vietnam, I visited the village where they have been making horn jewelry and home goods for over 400 years, and I visited the family who has been making our horn pieces. When I see them and interact with them, I don’t just see them as our supplier; I see them as family members. In fact, one of them reminded me of my mother as she smiled at me while she was making our pieces. And because I see them as my family members, I treat them as my family—with the utmost respect.

Phan is the founder of Hathorway, a sustainable fashion brand that uses ethically-sourced buffalo horns to create beautiful accessories. She is Vietnamese American.

Behind the Pattern readers get 20 percent off Hathorway items on https://buff.ly/3pg3uil 🎁 Use our exclusive discount code: behindthepattern
Expires March 31, 2021

✨ Read the full interview on our blog at https://buff.ly/3pdVUow ✨⠀

01/25/2021

What are your favorite Hathorway items and why?

"While the Saigon Geometric Statement Buffalo Horn Dangle Earrings are my absolute favorite because of how well it suits my face shape and brightens my face, the Vui Mung Geometric Buffalo Horn Dangle Earrings has to be one of the most meaningful designs for me. The funny part is there was no inspiration nor intention for designing this initially. There was a design flaw in one of my other earring designs; it wouldn’t dangle properly because I didn’t take gravity into consideration. Instead of throwing the flawed pieces away, I decided to evolve the design and turn it into something completely different—the Vui Mung. Today, it has become one of my best sellers. I also named it “Vui Mung”, which means “Happy” in Vietnamese, because every time I look at it, I am reminded about how it ended up being a happy accident."

✨ Jessica Phan, the founder of Hathorway, uses ethically-sourced buffalo horns to create beautiful and sustainable accessories. Read the full interview on our blog! https://buff.ly/2YcGnsY... ✨
For Behind the Pattern readers only! 20 percent off Hathorway Items on www.hathorway.com with discount code: behindthepattern
Expires March 31, 2021

01/25/2021

Jessica Phan, the founder of Hathorway, makes beautiful, using buffalo horns from Vietnam. Behind the Pattern connected with her earlier this month to talk about her business, her background and her thoughts about in the industry.

Why is it important to buy from sustainable and ethical fashion brands?

Besides creating green products that use natural materials like reclaimed horns and woven rattan, we are conscious of our manufacturing process and packaging materials. Today, our products are made-to-order so that we aren’t overproducing and cluttering the land and encouraging unnecessary waste. We also design our items so that they aren't just trendy but are timeless, so that our customers would wear it throughout the seasons and beyond the years. And where necessary, like our totes and purses, we use reclaimed fabric or leather that has been discarded from local clothing factories due to overproduction.

For our packaging materials, like our necklace and earring holders, we use wildflower seed paper to encourage customers to not just throw out or recycle the paper, but to nurture the land by planting it. Our boxes and packaging paper for online orders use reclaimed paper that has been discarded locally.

Stay tuned for the next few days for more thoughts from our interview with Jessica.

✨ Read the full interview on our blog ✨
https://www.behindthepattern.com/blog/founder-spotlight-hathorway?fbclid=IwAR1d90rWgHI69jefOwWlaBWwA8OoPKPNZ3Xh4M_NjYtB576EQrR_Rb0YSHg

01/23/2021

Jessica Phan, the founder of Hathorway, makes beautiful, using buffalo horns from Vietnam. Behind the Pattern connected with her earlier this month to talk about her business, her background and her thoughts about sustainability in the fashion industry:

Why did you start your business?
I started Hathorway as a way to reconnect with my Vietnamese heritage. Back in 2015, I traveled to Vietnam to visit my family. It was there that I discovered products made of buffalo horns—from chopsticks and spoons to hair combs and jewelry. And I began to fall in love with the material as I learned more about it and the sustainable beauty of it. I bought a few pieces of jewelry and started to reconstruct them to suit my own unique style. As I wore them I received several compliments. I started selling them on Etsy as a hobby. By day I led the design team as head of design for a tech startup in Palo Alto. By night and on weekends, I would make horn earrings and necklaces to sell to friends and family. Three years later, I left my career in tech to build out Hathorway—giving me the opportunity to reconnect with Vietnamese culture and share it with the world, while allowing me to pursue my childhood dream in fashion and do it in an ethical and sustainable manner.

Stay tuned for the next few days for more thoughts from our interview with Jessica.

✨ Read the full interview on our blog! https://www.behindthepattern.com/blog/founder-spotlight-hathorway ✨

01/16/2021

If your New Year's resolution was to get fit, you might want to start by checking out these POC-led activewear brands 💖

ZOEZI Sport, which means exercise in Swahili, is a fashion-forward lifestyle brand that was founded by Yvonne Bulimo, a Kenyan-born American.

Culture Fit Clothing was founded by a group of women of West African descent to create activewear for Black women of all shapes and sizes.

Lukafit is an activewear brand founded by Mbali to celebrate and support women of color.

Roam Loud is an activewear brand founded by Liberian-Nigerian American designer Toyin Omisore.

Nubian Natalie was founded by Natalie Arribeno, who partners with traditional artisans in rural Mexico to produce eco-friendly activewear.
Full Court is a tennis-inspired activewear brand by African American designer Marguerite Wade that marries fashion and functional fitness.

✨ Link ✨
https://www.behindthepattern.com/blog/athleisure-vibes

12/10/2020

This holiday season, spice up your wardrobe by shopping at inclusive fashion brands. Here's a couple of suggestions from BIPOC-led fashion companies to get you started!

BEL KAZAN was founded by designer Belinda Kazanci and makes socially conscious, ethically made clothing that is produced in Bali.

Viscera is a minimalist clothing and accessories brand that was founded in Oakland, Calif., by Hawaii native Ari Takata-Vasquez.

Fe Noel was created by Fe Noel, a Granada-born, Brooklyn-raised designer who creates clothing influenced by her Caribbean heritage.

JIBRI is a plus-size label founded by Black designer Jasmine Elder to create clothes for the fashion-conscious, curvy woman.

KAAREM is a Brooklyn-based brand focused on details and quality that was founded by designers Chuong Pham and Kathy Minh Bach, who are heavily inspired by their Vietnamese heritage.

✨ Link: https://www.behindthepattern.com/blog/holiday-party-looks ✨

12/04/2020

The Queen of Tie-dye

Brand Spotlight: Shop Amber Richele

Tie-dye is back. Oprah Magazine has even called it “the unofficial uniform of the pandemic.” Make sure you get your tie-dye from Shop Amber Richele, an African American designer based in Vallejo, California, whose clothing is handmade, unisex and size-inclusive. Here are our favorite pieces from her Fall 2020 collection: The Tie Dye Capsule.

✨ Link: https://www.behindthepattern.com/blog/the-queen-of-tie-dye ✨

11/29/2020

Outfit of the Day: A classic combination

You can't go wrong with black pants paired with an eye-catching blouse, especially when you add a set of elegant (and sustainable!) earrings.

Hope For Flowers By Tracy Reese is a sustainable clothing collection created by African-American designer Tracy Reese.

Universal Standard is a woman-founded apparel company that bills itself as "the world's most inclusive fashion brand."

Hathorway is a sustainable fashion accessories brand that was founded by Vietnamese American designer Jessica Phan.

✨ Blog post: https://www.behindthepattern.com/blog/outfit-of-the-day-a-classic-combination ✨

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