This is an excerpt from MEGA’s April 2025 ReWear
What Filipinos often lack in resources, we make up for in ingenuity. Our refusal to discard used materials in the hope of repurposing them and our ability to create opportunity from the unlikeliest sources have led to proud cultural moments of creativity, from the jeepney to the wood carvings of Paete. This value is not lost in Jillianne Santos, whose design label P.S. focuses on creating with intention, innovating responsibly, and giving space for transformation.
Jilliane has always been drawn to materials with history. As a child, she enjoyed cutting up old fabrics, collecting scraps, and turning them into something new. “I was always the type to take things apart just to see how they were made, to keep objects that felt interesting even if they had no immediate use.” It is as if she is allowing her materials to live their own life first, observing how they will evolve, whether leather softening, fabric unraveling at the edges, or a piece of wood retaining its character. “I don’t think I ever made a conscious decision to become a designer. It just made sense, like something I had been doing all along.”
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Through P.S., she explores textures and fragments by breathing new life into repurposed, unconventional materials. The label does not just expand the horizons of used objects. It also breaks from the constraints of commercial fashion. “For me, it’s about transforming materials with intention, where the design itself justifies the process.”
While it is about pushing boundaries, P.S. centers on creating with intention, with sustainability at the heart of the process. It is also deeply rooted in culture and tradition, where artisanship is valued as much as the final product. The label puts together pieces that draw inspiration from the age-old techniques of local artisans to craft upcycled objects that give the nod to heritage wear. Cowhide leather strips are handwoven intricately in the style of the traditional callado embroidery method, assembling a halter top that blends texture and fluidity with sculpture and fluidity. Textile made out of discarded hotel towels from Anthill’s zero-waste weave is handmade into a jacket with ceramic buttons and paired with a woven pañuelo in vegan leather. A five-inch bakya made of santol wood complements a top crafted from pieces of crocheted dead-stock leather cut by hand and crocheted together. “Beyond materials, I also think about how a piece will age and evolve with the wearer. If something reaches the end of its life in one form, I want it to have the potential to become something else.”
Read more about Jillianne’s sustainable creations in MEGA’s April 2025 issue now available on Readly, Magzter, Press Reader and Zinio.
Photographed by GRANT BABIA. Art direction by TROY NONATO. Fashion direction by ERICA TEROL. Produced by JONES PALTENG.
