Championing Philippine handwoven textiles
For more than three decades, Filipino fashion designer and "Wrap Artiste" Ditta Sandico has championed Philippine handwoven textiles, transforming locally sourced materials and indigenous fibers into contemporary fashion pieces that embody Filipino heritage, ingenuity, and livelihood.
As a plenary speaker at the first-ever Global Textile Congress (GTC) and Philippine Textile Congress 2026 (PTC), spearheaded by the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Textile Research Institute (DOST-PTRI), Sandico shared her perspective on Embracing Sustainability for Filipino Fashion. She emphasized that sustainability goes beyond preserving traditional materials and techniques. It also means keeping cultural textile knowledge alive while allowing expressions to evolve.
“Sustainability is not about keeping everything exactly the same. It is about keeping the essence alive while allowing expressions to change,” Sandico said.
Her philosophy is rooted in decades of working with Filipino weavers and indigenous materials. For Sandico, every textile carries a story and reflects the people and knowledge behind it.
Innovation without abandoning tradition
Sandico recalled working with Abel Iloco weavers in Ilocos Sur, exploring ways to bring the traditional fabric into ready-to-wear fashion while preserving its identity.
She also collaborated with Bulakeña weavers to experiment with blended fibers, including pineapple and linen (Peñalino), silk and linen (Sedalino), and banana and abaca (Banaca). Raffia was also incorporated as an embellishment, with some of the resulting pieces presented at fashion events in Singapore.
For Sandico, innovation does not mean abandoning tradition.
“We don’t always have to create something new. We can create something new from nothing. Sometimes sustainability means taking what already exists, the knowledge, the material, the skill, and finding a new way for it to live,” she said.
This approach aligns with DOST-PTRI’s efforts to develop high-value textile materials from natural resources and indigenous fibers while placing Filipino farmers and weavers at the center of innovation.
Sustainability is about people
Beyond materials and design, Sandico believes sustainability is ultimately about people and resilience. She recalled the lessons she learned from Catanduanes weavers, particularly their determination to continue despite challenges.
Her work with weaving communities, including the Hanunuo Mangyan weavers of Mindoro, further reflects her belief that sustaining textiles also means sustaining the communities that create them.
Sandico sees fashion as a platform for promoting heritage, innovation, dignity, and continuity.
“Fashion was never really the destination. Fashion was the platform. The real journey was always about people, about heritage, about innovation, about dignity, and about continuity,” she said.
She stressed the importance of creating new opportunities and markets while giving the next generation the freedom to reinterpret what they inherit.
“What succession means to me is not simply handing over a business, it is handing over a legacy. But a legacy should never be a cage. We must give the next generation the freedom to question us, challenge us, reinterpret what we have created, and take it somewhere we could never have imagined.”
For Sandico, true textile sustainability means keeping Filipino traditions alive while allowing them to evolve with the people and communities who carry them forward.
Photo shows Ditta Sandico speaking at a podium during the Global Textile Congress and Philippine Textile Congress 2026, with the Philippine flag and event branding visible.