A DAVAO-GROWN upcycled jewelry brand, Olivia & Diego, provides job as jewelry makers for women rescued from sex trafficking.
Olivia & Diego is a jewelry brand founded in 2013. The company uses textile waste and turns it into fashionable and affordable jewelries. It was named after the Moroccan couple that social entrepreneur and founder Yana Santiago met and inspired her. The jewelry enterprise aims to help reduce textile waste while promoting the beauty of Mindanao. It is also believed to be the first to introduce the concept of social enterprise and upcycling in terms of jewelry business in the city.
Santiago said in an interview that she chose to employ rescued women as she was interested in learning from them and being part of their story. She also wanted to help them by providing them jobs as jewelry-makers which will be their source of income. She said she was inspired by the workers of Rags2Riches in her internship when she was still in college. This was the very reason she started this kind of business.
Her crafts were already sold and showcased to different countries like Canada, United States, Japan, Malaysia, Belgium, and Germany.
“It became popular because of the extra marketing I did in the first few years. We started to email a lot of brand advocates and influencers and after doing that, they started to give interest,” Santiago said adding that they do a lot of research to make sure that their jewelry designs are up to date.
Santiago’s Olivia & Diego has just finished taking part in the event Green Wardrobe: A Forum on Sustainable Fashion yesterday at the SM Lanang Premier. The event was organized together with the Global Shapers Davao, the local youth community of the World Economic Forum to create public awareness about sustainable fashion.
During the event, other fashion entrepreneurs were also invited as forum speakers who talked about eco-ethical fashion, culture, and responsible consumption. (Jamille Galido Monforte, FSUU Intern/SunStar Davao)