Bayo opened a newly-designed store at Mall of Asia. Beyond a traditional retail shop, the space was designed to be a creative sustainability experience – “we wanted to translate our sustainability ethos not only through our products, but through the way we designed the store too,” says Bayo co-CEO and Chief Creative Officer Anna Lagon. For theMall of Asia store, this meant experimenting with sustainable interior design.
Bayo collaborated with interior designers and sustainability specialists to make materials out of residual waste – “We’ve been trying to develop this material for months now, so [the store opening] was a perfect time to use it,” the co-CEO shares. Said material is a construction product that uses what’s considered to be the least recyclable plastic waste – a type called “residual waste” like plastic that has been dirtied by food – “usually it’s just cleaned-out plastics like water bottles called rPET or thick plastics called HDPE that can be recycled – we were able to use that ones that junk shops and recycling centers don’t accept” shares Andrea de la Torre, Bayo’s Design & Sustainability Officer.
Without getting into the nitty-gritty of the process, the construction product is made by mixing residual plastic waste and fabric scraps (called “retaso”) – “essentially, we’re repurposing two types of waste in one go,” says Andrea. The Bayo team then used the product to make the store’s piece de resistance – a multi-level platform set against a feature wall.
The platform sees six tiers with white-plastered risers and cement-style finishings on each tread, all of which are formed in the shape of smooth curves reminiscent of the beloved destinations in Northern Philippines. The feature wall follows in the same wave-like sensibility with vertical claddings that are not-so-perfect in their straightness, with a single rope light threading through. Anna shares, “we were inspired by the imperfect perfection of nature, like the dimensional textures, shapes, and colors of the earth, and wanted to let that shine through in the design.”
Also scattered around the store are flowers which the Bayo team dyed themselves as a test for one of their existing sustainability projects – “ when we learned that most artificial flowers use chemical dyes, we wanted to test our natural ones on the decorations of the store,” Andrea shares. The Bayo team used dyes extracted from plants such as ginger and atsuete (annatto seeds), to treat the petals, creating sustainably-dyed flowers.
Bayo is no stranger to exploring new ways to practice sustainability – the team launched their #JourneytoZero in 2020, a campaign to change their linear production model to a fully circular one. They’ve also partnered with the UN Global Compact (UNGC) to align every practice with the standards of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). “Everything we do is grounded in our #JourneytoZero and the UN SDGs, which helps guide and align all our projects,” Anna shares. The store is an ism of circularity, the mindset that Bayo sees the future of fashion with.
Bayo can be found in the 3rd Floor of SM MOA, Seaside Boulevard, Pasay City, Philippines
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