A Note from Our Founder and Designer 

Don’t know if you’re into astrology and star signs as much as we are, but a new moon means new changes are happening. And boy are there a ton of changes happenin’ at VINTA (all good ones, tho)! 

First off, if you’re reading this, THANK YOU for being super amazing and patient with us as VINTA grows. It’s just getting better and better (we promise), and we couldn’t have done all this without our loyal customers and VINTA-loving followers.

That said, we just wanted to share a quick update on the new and exciting changes happening on our end.  

We Have New Sizing Options

You asked, we listened... We're re-doing our standard sizing!

For our older collections, our sizing for women went from XS to XXL, and we realized the grading between each size also was actually quite small. Some of you have voiced concern that our sizing was “Filipino-sized” a.k.a. TINY. And granted, the grading was done by a Philippine-based couturier — so this was the year that we re-jigged our grading. Now we have XS, S, M, L, XL, **+XL** and XXL. We’ve stretched out the grading in between sizes and added a new size. Our largest size (XXL) bust measurement used to only be between 40" and 42” — now our XXL is 46” for all the new styles.

Our sizing for men has also expanded! We added an XS to the range because many of our Filipino male customers are petite plus our gender neutral folx and women also want to wear the men’s styles. 

You can view more on how to size properly here as well. 

We’ve Expanded Our Team

…And in the process of hiring even more! It’s a very exciting time for VINTA, and due to the awesome demand for more items to the shop, it was time we needed an extra hand(s). Introducing a few new members to the production team at our Manila atelier:

Ate Rita who is just starting this month, has over 25 years experience as a sewer and about 4 years experience as a pattern maker.

Ate Jean who started in April, has over 30 years experience in the garment industry.

Josefina a.k.a. Ate Jo is our new machine embroiderer — she also has over 30 years of experience as well.

John Chesleigh Nofiel a.k.a. Plant Boy! on Instagram (@alagadngsining meaning “alagad” servant or disciple “ng” of “sining” art) is our surface designer. He will be designing embroidery and fabric prints for new pieces (BEYOND EXCITED about this). Chesleigh is a 20-year-old queer artist and illustrator from Cavite, Philippines. Suffering from myofascial pain syndrome with his right hand, he describes creating art as literally and figuratively, painfully enjoyable. He takes inspiration from plants, and his work with VINTA focuses on flora and fauna endemic to the Philippine archipelago. 

Bernadette, our operations and production manager, also has over 30 years of experience running garment factories with up to 50 sewers. She is the captain of the ship and manages the team to make sure everything is getting done, meticulously checking every garment that leaves the atelier.

King, our finisher and hand-dyer, has been with us for a year. She started with no sewing experience, but now, she is proud to be our official butterfly sleeve maker. She started doing the dyeing for us last year as well. 

Remy has been with us since 2016, she grew up with a mom who was a home-based dressmaker, so naturally she already knew her way around the sewing machine, including the hand-finishing (ie. hems and buttonholes). She is now learning how to make patterns and cut fabric. 

Last but certainly not least, there’s the Master, Estelita (I call her Manang, though the others call her Nanay). She is the Queen Mother of the atelier, also over 30 years of experience making couture gowns.

With the busy fall/winter season ahead, it’s all hands on deck, and we’re incredibly excited for the new, very talented members of the team at VINTA HQ. Hopefully that means less of the dreaded SOLD OUT stickers y’all want us to take down!

Speaking of… We’re Working on Our ‘Sold Out’ Items

We’re feeling the VINTA love — and with all the new followers and visitors to our online shop, we’ve had many of you asking about our sold out designs and wanting to order them. So much so that this year, the special one-off orders of existing designs have now taken quite a bit of time away from the team to work on all of our new designs! 

On top of that, our wedding orders have tripled this year, so that has also slowed down our ready-to-wear production. Although we made sure to inform customers that we cannot deliver on these orders until after September (plus we also have our 8 week minimum delivery on special and custom orders), there have been so many orders coming in that delivery times keep getting pushed back.

As mentioned before, another thing that has slowed us down this year is the re-jigging of our size range. Before we could start any of our new designs, we had to perfect our new measurements first and foremost. 

We have a ton of new styles planned that we think you’d love, but unfortunately production has been a bit delayed (even with the planned expansion and the addition of new VINTA team members). We want to make you guys happy while still sticking to our ethical and sustainable ‘slow fashion’ mission — it takes the right people, time and care to create these one-of-a-kind limited pieces. 

Thanks a million for your patience and don't forget to sign up for our newsletter for more news and updates coming your way!

Xo
Caroline

P.S. A Quick Note About Our Wedding Orders

Those who want to order for their wedding needs, please give us a minimum of 12 weeks. We are now limiting wedding couture orders to five per year. If you already have a date, you can get in touch with us even a year before your wedding date. We are already working on weddings for 2020!