Purses from Payatas

I want a Rags2Riches purse. I love the idea, I love the concept, not to mention the purses themselves.

So what is a Rags2Riches purse? Well, Rags2Riches is a company founded by a group of Ateneans (of course) in 2007. This company works with the women of Payatas, Manila's main waste management site. Thousands of families call Payatas home. (Images from this post courtesy of Google. Click on them for better viewing.)

Photos from Rags2Riches Website and Write Ups

These women of Payatas used to forage through the Payatas dump site for scraps of cloth which they would then weave into colorful rugs. Of course when it came time to sell these rugs, these women had to go through middle men and ended up only earning one peso for every rug they sold.


What Rags2Riches did was partner with these women and bring their work to the mainstream market. Instead of rugs, these women now weave beautiful purses and clutches which are available to the public. Moving even one step further, many of their purses are now designed by the likes of Philippine design icons Rajo Laurel and Amina Aranaz. These items are currently sold in many high end stores in Manila. And according to their website, each product comes with the Rags2Riches story of transformation and a handwritten signature of the mother who made the product.

All of this has enabled the women of Payatas to earn a livelihood, help support their families and send their children to school. As of this year, Rags2Riches has expanded exponentially and they are gearing towards exporting their products to cities like New York, San Francisco, and beyond.

Rags2Riches is a wonderful example of what can be achieved with a little ingenuity and a lot of hard work. With Rags2Riches serving as an inspiration, think of all the things we are capable of doing. The possibilities are endless.


So buy a purse and let's help support the community of Payatas today.

For more information, you can visit the offical website of Rags2Riches here.