Releasing personal art merchandise can be overwhelming for designers, artists, and even small businesses, as things like production and digital publishing can get in the way of free-flowing creativity. Because of this, most solo creatives or small teams result to compromising either their ideas, or the quality of their products—or get too scared to try at all. But, that problem might just be no more as triART Philippines aims to support creatives wholeheartedly with its (CO)LAB initiative.
TriART’s ethos hinges on the mission of making creative work uncomplicated for creatives by bringing their artworks to life for them. Proudly producing zero waste, and advocating for zero risk, the (CO)LAB system collaborates with creators by allowing them to monetize their works without the added pressure of looking for suppliers, or finding a platform to share the campaign on. Basically, the TriART team works with creators from rendering their designs to be web-ready, uploading assets on the website for creators to share, up to printing and shipping the products to customers.
The team calls it “slow fashion.” This is the complete opposite of how retail is run today with companies producing thousands of the same designs for fast fashion, ultimately leaving out-of-season and un-purchased items to waste. With the “slow fashion” approach, only the exact number of purchased units will be produced to ensure each product is accounted for, and will not add to the fashion industry’s growing piles of trash.
Here’s how the process goes:
- Submission
Artists submit their design or ideas, which will then be screened by the triART team to discuss onboarding, and how the project will run moving forward. - Upload
After working with the artist on silhouette/s, and the complete design on shirts, hoodies, and more, these renders will be uploaded on the triART website under the (CO)Lab tab. - Marketing
The item/s will be live on the website for the set duration of the campaign, which can go for as long as 30 days. Artists can then share the items to their friends and followers to accumulate pre-orders and determine how many units will be produced. - Production
Once the campaign duration has ended, production by the triART team will commence. - Shipping
Production will take 3-10 days. After which, all products will be shipped to customers accordingly.
Throughout the length of the campaign, from ideation to shipping, triART promises to work hand-in-hand with creators to offer them the extra support they need, without taking much of their attention away from exploring their creativity. “We are seeking to revolutionize retail for the better: cutting out the waste, prioritizing originality, and improving accessibility whilst promoting independence,” the team shared to the press.
Nadine Lustre herself released her Wildest Dreams merch with triART, with all garments made to order until fabric stocks last—which quickly sold out in a matter of days:
On top of this, to celebrate triART’s launch, the team also released a series of exclusive art wear designs in collaboration with nine local artists. This was the first major campaign for (CO)LAB to bring attention to its advocacy of sustainable and ethical fashion. The collection consisted of designs from the likes of the Tropical Futures Institute, Jappy Agoncillo, and Chino Villagracia, to name a few.
For all independent creatives out there, this might just be the solution to your merch problems. Follow triART.ph and collaborate on https://triart.ph/.