A tale of retail

Twenty years in the fashion retail business is nothing to scoff at. In a world as fickle as Fashion Retail, it’s far easier to flare with seeming unparalleled popularity, only to be as exciting as a week-old newspaper by the time the next season checks in. Even abroad, we’ve seen how names like Fiorucci gained immense street credentials, only to disappear without a trace within a decade. In the world of broad market apparel, surviving is hinged on being able to cater to basics, staying competitive, adapting to the times and yet forging a core value of what your brand stands for, and establishing a niche in the market that you protect as fiercely as a bear protects her cubs. These are all lessons Victor Tan and Bobson have taken to heart.

Bobson may not have aspired to be the most fashion forward or edgier of brands; but precisely by sticking to the price-conscious mainstream and yet providing quality and dependability, it has kept its head above the competition, and now stands as a 20-year success story. As Victor remembers, “Back in 1987, it was nothing more than a personal passion for fashion, going to the malls regularly and seeking out strong design elements from abroad that could be applied to the local market. And these design elements would be in the apparel itself, and in the manner in which they would be merchandised. Wholesome, yet stylish and cool was what I aspired for, and I felt the niche to explore was the department stores.” Even if “only” a department store brand first and foremost, the decision was made to be aggressive via print ads and billboards; and to make this strategy pay off, it was in 1999 that Victor turned to endorsers. Aga Muhlach was Victor’s first and only choice to be the paramount image of what Bobson was all about, and he’s been there ever since, parlaying his maturing image with that of someone from the entertainment industry who will always be careful of the clothes he will pick and endorse, and maintaining a look that’s fresh, fashionable and yet mainstream. For the ladies line, Victor presently has young star Rhian Ramos; and there’s Taekwondo athlete Japoy Lizardo for the young adult line.

Now boasting of 140 concession outlets in department stores and 25 free-standing shops, Bobson can be found in SM, Robinsons, Landmark, the Gaisano malls and other major department stores all over the country. On the second floor at Landmark, Makati, we see how murals on the walls and extensive use of graphics help distinguish the island modules of Bobson. As Victor explains, it’s important that they rise above the clutter, and even in a department store context, make some kind of statement. In fact, Bobson is now more than just jeans and casual wear. Making its own bid for lifestyle, it has expanded to fragrances, bags and towels. This 20th year also saw it introducing a Heritage collection, going back to basics, as a nod to its 20-year journey.

Its clarion call is “Keep It Real,” and as Victor expounds, that’s something that applies at all levels of the company. “We are definitely not pretentious. Rather than go for foreign artists, we stick to endorsers that are homegrown and who we feel are more relevant to our market. Up to 80 percent of our production is still manufactured in the Philippines. It’s still all about style, design and fit. And in order to be able to compete more efficiently, we recently professionalized the business, from top to bottom. I know we’re playing in a crowded market, but as the 20 years have slipped by, I take comfort in the fact that we have survived precisely because our customers keep coming back and we continue to develop new patrons. It means we are doing something right and providing them with a product that they appreciate. That’s the reward in itself.” Here’s to Victor’s next 20 years.

Intersecting Love, History And Mystery

Novels can be simple and straightforward in concept, but it’s the richness of language and trenchant observations that make them rise and become literature, or at the very least, sublime entertainment. Annie Dillard’s novel can be about an ordinary marriage; but when she suffuses it with lines that say Love “beyond the 18 months that science allows for infatuation, is imaginary or theater, or inertia, or convenience,” we know we’ve reached a point where her love story is intersecting with philosophy. Shalev mixes history with the battlefield of love, and Adair’s novel is a homage to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock. 

The Maytrees by Annie Dillard (available at A Different Bookstore): This novel is a luminous dissecting of a relationship. When we meet Toby and Lou, he’s a carpenter/poet, and Lou is an aspiring artist. They live on Cape Cod and along with other artist-types, make up a bohemian community. We are mesmerized by the language Dillard utilizes, it’s reminiscent of Michael Ondaatje (author of The English Patient and most recently, Divisadero) but placed in a very American context. Unconventional, elliptical and almost as if written in verse, there’s poignancy and mock-poetry at work. After a son, Petie, is born, and 14 years of marriage, Toby ups and leaves with Deary, another member of the community. The high dramatic impact of the story is reached when 20 years after his departure, and with Deary dying, Toby returns to Lou to help him take care of Deary. The philosophizing about love and relationships is what makes this novel special, and how Dillard sets any relationship against time to show its evolution and transfiguration.

A Pigeon and a Boy by Meir Shalev (available at Powerbooks): A renowned Israeli novelist, Shalev’s new book is an engrossing double helix narrative that firmly puts love and history in the crossfire. The contemporary narrative has to do with a tour guide who marries a rich American tourist, only to find that it is his first love, the daughter of a construction magnate, that his heart yearns for. The second narrative has to do with a pigeon handler during Israel’s War for Independence and his one true love, a fellow pigeon handler working in Tel Aviv. Dispatching a pigeon with a love letter with a supreme difference right before he succumbs to gunshot wounds, there is a unexpected connection between the two narratives that makes these love stories, and tale of family, affection and bonding, truly unique. The backdrop of pigeon handling and the use of these birds during times of war is fascinating in itself, and one appreciates how Shalev has done the research and given it a very human and emotional dimension. A very rewarding read.

A Mysterious Affair of Style by Gilbert Adair (available at Fully Booked): This is Adair’s second novel featuring his brilliant creation, mystery writer Evadne Mount. The time is 1946, and the novel is a tribute to those parlor-room mysteries that Agatha Christie excelled in, and to the films of Alfred Hitchcock. A film director and his leading lady die mysteriously in a fire at the director’s home; and when Evadne’s good friend becomes part of the cast of the project the film director was supposed to next work on, Evadne and good friend, retired Inspector Trubshawe, go to the studio set and watch the proceedings. Now directed by an assistant who was personally selected by the now deceased director to succeed him if anything should happen, a new death (this time, by poison) occurs on the set. What’s especially adroit on the part of Adair is his handling of the material, the faithful reconstruction of an era and time, and how his characters ring so true. It’s a London trying to reconstruct itself after the war, and Adair obviously has fun recreating the era.