By Edg Adrian A. Eva, Reporter
SVNTNHNDRD, a clothing brand founded by a rapper with a disability, aims to add formal wear and tote bags by year-end or early 2027.
Svntnhndrd, a Parañaque-based clothing brand that promotes the city’s heritage, was established in 2021 by Vladimir Igman L. Tarubal to help finance his law studies and provide work opportunities for others.
Mr. Tarubal, 30, was born with hydrocephalus and Dandy-Walker syndrome. He is also known as Roc-6, a rapper and spoken-word artist with 15 years of experience.
He started the business after a friend suggested selling merchandise to earn a sustainable income following the end of his project on livestreaming platform Kumu.
“My friend told me that if I want a sustainable income that is still art-related, I have to build my own merch,” Mr. Tarubal, founder of Svntnhndrd, said in an interview via Microsoft Teams in Filipino.
Earnings from the project provided the seed funding for the brand, whose name derives from 1700, the starting digits of Parañaque City’s ZIP code.
Its tagline, “From Parañaque to the world,” reflects Mr. Tarubal’s aim to promote the city’s history and heritage. Parañaque is also the hometown of his idol, rapper Andrew Ford V. Espiritu, known as Andrew E.
Svntnhndrd sells shirts, hoodies, pins and stickers featuring local imagery and messages about social justice. One of its best-selling designs, “Tapang Parañaque,” inspired the creation of a youth organization with the same name, which Mr. Tarubal considers one of the brand’s biggest achievements.
The business operates on a pre-order basis, with orders accepted through Facebook, Instagram and its Canva website. With the help of designer John Richmon Dizon and six other staff members, it ships about 40 shirts every three to four months.
Mr. Tarubal suspended operations in 2022 when he entered law school but reopened the business in 2024 to pay for his studies and help support his family. He is now a third-year student at Arellano University School of Law.
“I really had to sell clothes to finance my law school,” he said.
The business also gave him an alternative to conventional employment, where he said he encountered discrimination because his condition affects his motor skills.
“If I can’t have a formal job, I’ll just have a business where I can provide jobs for people instead,” he said.
About 50% of employed people with disabilities worldwide were self-employed, compared with 41% of employed people without disabilities, according to the United Nations 2024 Disability and Development report. People with disabilities were more likely to work in the informal sector, it said.
Svntnhndrd operated informally until it announced its registration with the Department of Trade and Industry on June 11.
Mr. Tarubal plans to introduce formal wear and tote bags by the end of the year or early 2027, targeting law students and lawyers. The company has also filed an intellectual property application.
The Philippine clothing market is projected to grow from $8.7 billion in 2025 to $15.9 billion in 2034, expanding at an annual rate of 6.76%, according to management consulting firm IMARC Group.