TWO years of the pandemic and with his shop about to close due to income losses last year, fashion designer Boyet Fajardo is now up and excited for the March 24 fashion show at the Ruby Ballroom of Crowne Plaza Hotel.
“I sold at least two of my vintage watch collections and a property in order to start all over again,” he confessed.
For the record, the designer for plus-size women is known to have over a hundred watch collections dating centuries back which are still operational. Aside from that, he has also invested in some properties from his earnings years back.
“So I am back. All my staff is back. Initially, I had to let go of some of them and I had to rehire them after a month in March last year. And now I’m joining fellow designers in the upcoming show, titled Fashion Forte, which seems to be the first face-to-face fashion event of the year,” he said in an interview with select media representatives in Quezon City.
Fajardo is never new to life’s challenges. For one, he was born with a disability and he really worked hard to overcome it and became one of the country’s top fashion designers. He lost his eyesight in 2014 and he regained it “through a miracle from God,” as he calls it. He also got embroiled in a controversy resulting in a legal case, which of course he regretted, and later came to him as a lesson in humility and forgiveness.
“With all these, I believe God still has a mission for me. My advocacy for the PWDs is still ongoing but I don’t want to discuss it. I have never used it to further my business anyway,” he said. He is thankful that his brand is still all over the Philippines with reputable malls selling them.
“Before the pandemic, I had over 100 branches. Now, I only have 80 branches but I am opening shops one after another in the Visayas and Mindanao areas,” he disclosed.
Joining Fajardo in his newfound zest for the fashion industry hard hit by the pandemic are his seasoned models Alvin Fortuna and Katherine Von Moya, with whom he had worked years beginning their teens. Joining them is beauty titlist and supermodel Joy Castillo-Pasidis, who had modeling stints in Europe before the pandemic.