About Us
Hello! Kamusta? Thank you for stopping by!
My name is Jovie and I'm the founder of Pinay Collection and as some of you may know, Pinya Letters. In the past 2 years, we've been infusing Filipina/x flavour to our hand lettering work at Pinya Letters part time; but after deeply exploring resources and seeing community needs in mainstream retail, we knew it's time to create Pinay Collection.
Pinay Collection was born out of our aspiration to celebrate and reclaim Filipina/x identity in the diaspora. Our goal is to share, empower, and be unapologetic about our unique Filipina/x narratives through our Pinay-infused themes. Our minimalist, hand lettered and drawn designs hope to elevate the Tagalog language and artistry in a modern way.
Pinay Collection is not your average Filipinx retail store - we cultivate the power of Tagalog words. Many of the words you'll see in our pieces have been used to diminish and shame Filipinas; and we think this makes our designs unique, beautiful, and rich with Pinay magic.
Reclaiming the words.
In the face of colonial forces that seek to keep Filipina women down, this Pinay Collection is a powerful and necessary act of defiance. For so long the narratives of Filipina/xs have been shaped by people other than us. Our colonizers and other oppressive forces have rendered us quiet, submissive, subservient, and inferior. All the things that I – and many of the Filipina/xs in my life – are not.
This is why it’s so important for us to reclaim the word “Pinay” and so many others. To take back these words and make them ours again; to define it on our own terms.
But Pinay Collection goes even deeper than this. This brand – dare I say movement? – isn’t just about our colonizers or external forces that have kept us down. It’s also a statement against those within the Filipino community, our own families, our own intimate relations who are guilty too of keeping us down, who use our very own mother tongue against us.
Unapologetically redefining our narratives.
You'll see throughout our website the many different ways Pinxys in the diaspora define the words in our brand. It's our own way of honouring the many strong Filipina/x that empower our community.
For Khela, the word Maldita defines so much of who she is. “I was a very hyperactive and outspoken kid, and I heard the word Maldita so many times in various angry tones that I became very quiet and reserved, and I was like that for years. And then I began to think, ‘All of my maldita traits are the traits that make me confident, that make me assert myself in places and spaces that I could never dream of entering. So it’s a word that I’m reclaiming now. I’m maldita, what are you gonna do about it?”
For Dawn, being Maarte is a gift. "I live my emotions fully, letting the unpleasant ones carve out new depths for the pleasant ones to take root when they pass through me. Maarte or not, I would not have it any other way."
#WearPinay
I hope that you will join our movement by using the hashtag #WearPinay on social media. We all know that Pinays have been historically and undeniably loud, brown, and proud - join us as we amplify our strong collective voices even more!