Last chance to visit us in 2006!

Smokey Fashion will be at the Shirt and Skirt Markets again - for the last time in 2006.

We don't know when we will be back, so be quick! 10 am til 4pm, St Kilda Primary School, Sunday 17 December.

You can find out more about the Shirt and Skirt Markets here.

Rundown from the market

Smokey had its first Australia market stall at the beginning of October. We had a great day, although the wind was pretty strong and we thought we might fly off into the sky a few times.

We will be back at the Shirt and Skirt Markets in December. We've put in orders for new stock and hopefully we might have a new design and some new fabrics to showcase then.


Chris in his Smokey fashion t-shirt.

Recently, Manila was hit by a typhoon which badly effected Smokey Mountain. No-one was hurt, but the rooves of the 20 or so buildings that house the community were blown off, so hundreds of people are now living with no roof over their heads. Electricity was also down for a number of the buildings. So your support is needed now more than ever!

Please come along and visit us if you are in Melbourne. The market is the first Sunday in December and is located near the corner of Chapel St and Carlisle St, St Kilda.

Smokey Fashion Goes to Market

If you live in Melbourne, Australia, please come and visit us on Sunday October 1 for our inagural market stall. We can be found at the Shirt and Skirt Market at St Kilda Primary School from 10am to 4pm.

Come and meet some of the people behind the business, try on our beautiful garments and learn more about the community of Smokey Mountain.

We will have skirts and shorts - just in time for spring - and also great bags made from recycled materials from our friends at trashbags.

You can find out more about the Shirt and Skirt Market here.

August 06 Update

Sorry we have been absent for so long, there have been lots of changes and lots of exciting things are happening.

Natalie is back in Australia, missing Smokey terribly, but working on developing a market for our garments in Melbourne. And Mark Dvorak-Little's Luce fellowship just concluded so now he's back in America and missing Smokey too!

We welcome two new wonderful additions - Simone and Marieke. Simone is from Australia and has a fashion & business background and Marieke is from Holland and has a law background. They have been very busy developing the business, working with the ladies to develop their skills, creating new designs and recruiting more help.

They have also been working with the ladies who weave the wonderful recycled newspaper baskets and bags (see trashbags link to the right). We hope to be able to use their skills in some new products for Smokey Fashion.


A scene from the bag-making workshop - Marieke, Simone and Joyet in the background


Up close with weaving old newspapers into great bags.

The Latest From Smokey...

We have had a busy few weeks, between enhancing our profile in the Philippines and completing orders for Australia. But it has been great to see things in full swing.


Ate Fe hard at work on our orders for Australia.

We've been able to install better lighting in our little workshop, and it's helping a lot with those tricky details!

We had another television appearance, this time a live interview on Studio 23;s breakfast program. Rajo Laurel, Natalie Jiricek and Mark Dvorak-Little went on the show and we have had a lot of positive feedback. We still need help, so anyone who is interested in helping out in any capacity, please email us on smokeyfashion@gmail.com

Our breakfast show appearance.

We have also started on the next phase of our project, our designs with Rajo. Rajo came and visited our office at workshop at Smokey Mountain and met most of the ladies. Our next phase incorporates making patchwork out of remnant fabrics, and then turning the patchwork into stunning garments of Rajo Laurel's designs. Stay tuned for our samples soon!

Rajo Laurel and the ladies inspect patchwork made from remnant fabrics.

Our other designs (you can find them in February archives) are still going strong and we had some great combinations ordered recently. We have some photos below, and another winner which we haven't got a photo of yet, is the cream and brown circles with a chocolate brown brushed twill in the Cath skirt.


The Danielle skirt in denim and green paisley.


A special request unearthed this great combination, a soft grey wool paired with an exquisite grey and pink Japanese print.

Unfortunately we have to temporarily suspend orders from Australia, but we hope to have that up and running again soon. If anyone knows anything about online payment systems in the Philippines - please email us on smokeyfashion@gmail.com

T-Shirt Mania!

Earlier this year, we held a competition amongst the residents of Smokey Mountain to design a logo to go on a t-shirt. The logo was to reflect the theme of the community of Smokey Mountain.

We had 40 entries from around the community and the winning entry was chosen by a panel of 3 judges. Aurelio Garcileno won with his colourful and simple design, winning the first prize of 1,000 pesos (A$25).


Winner with the 3 judges.

The logo was digitised by the generous folks at Sagric and then printed on to t-shirts (we would also like to acknowledge the generous donation of printing and at-cost t-shirts by Crimson).

The idea is to have t-shirts to sell to our many visitors that we have come through the community, as well as the people who wish to support the co-operative. All proceeds from the t-shirt sales goes towards supporting the livelihood programs of the co-op.


The winning entry.

So, if you want to be like Reggie (below), cool and concerned, contact us at smokeyfashion@gmail.com. We have 4 sizes - S, M, L and XL (mens sizes only). They retail for 300 pesos in the Philippines or A$10 for Australians (including handling to Melbourne). UPDATE - Size SMALL currently sold out.


Reggie modelling the t-shirt.

Pinoys and Pinays!

Please email us on smokeyfashion@gmail.com to get a pricelist for the Philippines.

We also make these garments in standard Filipino sizes, so you can request a size without having to send in your measurements.

We can post finished garments to you or deliver depending on where you live.