What It Takes to Make a Carry Om, Beyond the Price Tag

WHAT IT ACTUALLY TAKES TO MAKE A CARRY OM

Before anything is priced, before anything is sold, there is a process that most people never see, and more often than not, that is where the disconnect begins when people judge a product solely by its price.

SOURCING IS WHERE CARRY OM BEGINS, WITH WHAT OTHERS HAVE ALREADY DISCARDED

The story of Carry Om starts with handpicked, upcycled fabric that takes laborious weeks of preparation. We’re talking about stacks of overruns, sometimes four stories high, accumulated over the last 10 to 20 years; fabric, straps, hardware, zippers, cords, covered in muck, dirt, mold, and everything in between. Each piece has to be cleaned inch by inch just to make it usable.

No company will spend this amount of time caring for overruns, because it is far easier to simply discard them and buy a fresh roll of fabric of your choosing; clean, consistent, ready to use. It’s easier, it’s faster, and it’s predictable. We choose otherwise.

This is where our muscle boys come in, ferrying each bundle from van to warehouse, piece by piece. From the very beginning, before a bag even exists, the process already demands time, labor, and intention, things that rarely show up when people only look at the final price.

SORTING THROUGH TONNES OF DISCARDED FABRIC

Handpicking is just the prerequisite; sorting is what truly takes the cake in this process. Most manufacturing companies begin with design and cutting fabric, but ours begins in preproduction, with laborious amounts of preparation in handpicking and sorting.

We go through hundreds of colorways and materials, re-rolling each strap and separating them into categories based on size, thickness, color, and usability. If a piece is too dirty to be cleaned, we don’t throw it away; we repurpose it, even into our delivery bags. Literally nothing goes to waste, because everything we started with was already waste.

This is not a system built for efficiency; it is a system built for intention. As someone who hunts for fabric, this is the part I enjoy the most, because there’s excitement in imagining how Viktoria will take these raw, discarded pieces and transform them into something people will eventually carry.

SWATCHING IS HOW CHAOS TURNS INTO POSSIBILITY

Once sorted, we move into a system that uniquely works for us. By this point, we are working with thousands of swatches; colors of straps, fabrics, zippers, cords, and mesh. Every single piece, no matter how small the roll, is coded and catalogued, because each square inch is valuable.

Each swatch earns its place on our shelves, but it doesn’t stop there; we digitize everything. Each physical swatch is manually color-matched to a digital version, creating a system that allows us to build combinations before anything is even cut.

This is where Viktoria steps in, carefully studying each piece of fabric, not just for color, but for how it will live on a bag, imagining combinations that people will eventually love and recognize as Carry Om.

CONCEPTUALIZING CARRY OM WHERE FUNCTION MEET IDENTIY

Only after all of this do we begin conceptualizing the bag itself. Our process starts with identifying what exists in the market and asking how it can be improved; how it can be more functional, more expressive, and more aligned with what Carry Om stands for.

Viktoria begins sketching each perspective, asking how we can make something feel distinctly ours. We recently updated our message to something simple; BAGS, DONE OUR WAY. Because at the end of the day, we are a bag company, and we don’t need to overcomplicate that.

But what we take pride in is how people feel when they carry Om; we don’t say we sell joy, we sell bags, but the way we build them is what makes them joyful.

PATTERN MAKING SHAPES EVERY SILHOUETTE

Nothing moves forward without pattern making; every Carry Om silhouette begins here. Our brand ethos is clear; create a structured bag using nylon, then make it functional and expressive. If it doesn’t meet those, then it’s not Carry Om.

This is where our bagfather and padrón-star, Yadu Saulo, comes in. With over 50 years of experience in bag-making, sewing, and pattern-making, he translates Viktoria’s vision into something tangible. Viktoria works closely with my father and I to flesh out the details and vision of a bag; sometimes it takes multiple revisions, sometimes when everything aligns, we get it right in one.

In the beginning, designing with my father, who was clearly the chef in the kitchen, was met with friction between the three of us; Viktoria, my dad, and I. Beyond the fact that we are family, Viktoria is my wife and Yadu is my dad, they were getting to know each other in a business setting for the first time. As Viktoria sees it, if there is no friction, there is no growth, and friction we had.

Over time, what used to feel like tension became a system. Now there are two main chefs in the kitchen, and we have found a way of working together that respects each other’s design fields; Viktoria brings her industrial design expertise, while my father brings his 50 years of experience in the industry. With every design, every iteration, there is a constant balancing, almost like wringing out every possibility, to arrive at the right combination of silhouette, function, and ultimately, a bag that feels unmistakably Carry Om.

That only comes from decades of experience meeting a clear vision, and from understanding that evolving with the times is just as important as mastering the craft itself. Take Khumbmela, the brand my father founded and the predecessor of Carry Om; in its heyday in the 80s and 90s, it was known for pricing its bags higher than competitors, because the standard was built differently.

But as more brands entered the market, the pressure to compete on pricing grew, and that shift changed the system. Everything became mass-manufactured, cost-cutting became the highlight of growth, pricing became a marketing tool, and design began to follow cost efficiency instead of identity. That system, over time, led to its own challenges.

So in building Carry Om, friction is not something we avoid; it is something we rely on. Because if there is no friction, there is no growth, and without growth, you are only repeating what already exists.

PROTOTYPING TESTS OUR DESIGN THEORIES AGAINST THE REALITIES OF CARRYING OM

This is where everything finally takes form. After weeks of sourcing, sorting, and designing, we see the bag come to life; the first prototype is usually done in a plain color because we are focused on structure and functionality.

It’s not yet final, but it’s real, and there is always a sense of joy in this moment, seeing something that existed only in thought now physically in front of you.

Once the prototype works, we move toward finalizing it, and I assign a Sanskrit name that carries meaning beyond the product itself; it becomes more than just a bag, it becomes part of a system of thought and identity.

COLORING EVERY SWATCH FOR EVERY BAG

This is where Carry Om becomes what people recognize. The colors begin digitally, but they are the result of everything that came before; weeks of sourcing, sorting, swatching, and conceptualizing.

Viktoria works on each silhouette, selecting colors for every single component; fabric, thread, zipper, cord, strap, hardware, and it can easily reach up to 50 different composite materials for a single bag. All of this happens before we even begin cutting, and the system is constantly updating; what materials have run out, what is available, so every decision is made within real constraints.

A lot of this perspective is shaped by exposure. Viktoria spends time traveling, immersing herself in different environments, observing how people dress, how they move, how streetwear evolves in different cultures. While traveling to Vietnam, she had a brief but telling exchange with a sales associate at a local brand’s retail store. She asked whether the products were considered expensive for locals, and before she could even finish the thought, the associate responded with a clear “yes.” The SA shared that locals would usually buy a pair of pants at around 300,000 VND, roughly ₱680, while several local premium brands price at 1.2 million VND or more, around ₱2,700.

Yet, local premium products’ prices here in the Philippines are often compared to brands that seem “cheaper” in Vietnam, without accounting for differences in systems, standards, and cost structures. What is often overlooked is that locals there view their own market the same way; what is considered “affordable” is shaped by their own cost of living, just as it is here.

What people sometimes dismiss as “expensive” often overlooks the sheer amount of coordination, attention, and manual decision-making that happens before a product even enters production.

CUTTING AND BURNING EVERY IDEA INTO A CARRY OM

Before a bag is sewn, before it takes shape, it is cut—piece by piece, decision by decision, often without the luxury of certainty.

Master cutter Marites is often overwhelmed, and not because the work is difficult in the traditional sense, but because no two runs are ever the same. Each new bag design comes with different color combinations, and her role isn’t simply cutting fabric. It’s making sure the color swatch matches our inventory, matches the production ask, and matches it without error.

But that’s never really the case.

Our messaging platforms are constantly filled with updates about straps running out, fabrics no longer available, and materials that shift mid-process because inventorying upcycled fabric isn’t practical in the conventional sense. What seems like chaos from the outside is exactly what gives every Carry Om piece its uniqueness, its humanness. Every small inconsistency, every trinket of error, becomes part of the story.

Marites cuts each piece by hand, doing the math in her head, never writing anything down. She has built her own internal system of accounting, tracking how many pieces she has already cut before passing them on to the sewers. It’s not written, not automated, not scalable in the way factories expect—but it works because she understands the rhythm of the work.

In most factories, this stage is streamlined. Machines cut and seal edges in one pass, eliminating variation, eliminating error. But in Carry Om, human touch is not something we remove for efficiency.

It’s something we protect.

This is where Nanay Barang comes in. Our fire bender.

She passes each fabric edge through a burning candle, sealing it by hand for eight hours a day. She has done this for decades, and she genuinely enjoys it. There’s something almost cinematic about her presence—like the living version of a lola basang story, burning fabric while telling stories of her neighborhood or sharing bits of everyday gossip.

At 67, she is also not one to hold back.

When she hears people judging the price of Carry Om, she laughs and says, “edi huwag niyo bilhin, hindi naman kayo pinipilit.”

And she means it.

Her hands process hundreds of pieces of fabric daily, big and small, burning through dozens of candles in the process. This is not a step you will ever see in the final product, but it is embedded in every piece.

What people often look at as “just a bag” has already passed through hours of human hands, decisions, adjustments, and quiet mastery.

And none of that can be rushed.

SEWING THE JOYFUL FUNK AND FUNCTION OF CARRY OM

Once every piece is cut, burned, and prepared, the bag finally begins to come together—but even here, nothing is straightforward.

Each of our makers is given a digital swatch reference to match every piece accurately. With 15 to 20 colorways in a single run, the process becomes a constant puzzle, where every piece must align with the right combination of fabric, strap, and hardware.

It’s not repetition. It’s interpretation.

Mistakes happen, and that is part of the process. We do not operate under a system that punishes mistakes or enforces inhumane quotas. Many of our sewers have worked with my father for 30 to 40 years, and some are still unlearning the environments they came from—places where their pay depended on hitting strict production numbers with zero room for error.

Here, we do things differently.

At the core of it is a decision. At Carry Om, we take pride in rewarding our teams well, and that choice defines everything that follows.

It's not about you you paying more; we’re just choosing not to pay makers less.

We are not optimizing for the lowest possible cost. We are building a system where our makers are compensated properly, and that has a direct impact on pricing.

We sit them down and remind them that their value is not defined by output alone. We work with them, correct mistakes together, and move forward. Because at the end of the day, we are working with people, not machines, and that is a conscious choice we make.

When people say pricing is high “in this economy,” it misses the point entirely. This Philippine economy is exactly why it costs this much. Labor should be rewarded appropriately. Materials cost more. Operations cost more.

An average of twice the minimum wage. This is not about higher pricing. It is about fair compensation. What feels expensive is often just uncommon. The cost reflects how we choose to build.

Fair pay is not expensive. It is simply uncommon.

At our recent Omniversary, we were overwhelmed by the response our team received. We made sure to reward them accordingly, but what stood out most wasn’t just the celebration—it was the messages.

Not just from customers. But from our makers themselves.

Messages of appreciation for being part of a system that rewards labor instead of punishing it. A system where their work is seen, not rushed. Valued, not reduced to numbers.

And that, more than anything, is what gets sewn into every Carry Om.

QUALITY CONTROL AT THE HANDS OF EXPERIENCE, WHERE EVERY DETAIL IS CAREFULLY CHECKED

The hands of Nanay Betty process hundreds of bags daily. At 70 years old, she continues to quality check each piece, examining every stitch with an eye that has been trained since the 80s, when she first worked with my father. She’s literally 1 against 12 sewers. Though we don’t have a strict quota per sewer, she sometimes cannot contain herself by sitting down a sewer who may have a lot of rejected pieces and we appreciate her for that because she knows that these bags are treasured pieces and it clearly shows the value customers see in Carry Om.

She remains one of the best in the industry at what she does; of course, at her age, it is possible to miss small details, a hardware placement, a stitch, a loose thread, and that is why we continue to build systems around her to support consistency.

But her presence is not just about quality control; it represents continuity, experience, and the human side of production that no automated system can replace.

RECOLORING FOR THE 100TH TIME

Because we rely on upcycled materials, our process does not end once a design is completed; it continues to evolve. We often run out of specific components after producing only 10 to 20 pieces of a colorway, which means constant adaptation.

A design does not simply restock; it changes. Mala Soldier becomes Orange, Red Orange, Brown, depending on what materials are available. We are always responding to what we have, not forcing consistency where it does not naturally exist.

We could take the easier route and buy fresh rolls to stabilize production, but then we would lose what makes Carry Om what it is. Small-batch production operates on a completely different system; it removes cost-cutting shortcuts, introduces variation, and demands more manual work and attention. What people often want is uniqueness, just not at the cost of uniqueness.

Ethical production is not a marketing line; it is a cost center, and ethics do not reduce cost, they define it. Fair wages, safe conditions, and proper timelines are not abstract ideals; they are real expenses, and that is exactly why at Carry Om, we price the way we do.

As my father once said, in his 50 years in the industry, no one in their right mind would do what we do; it is too volatile, too labor-intensive, too unpredictable, and yet this unpredictability is what brings the entire team together. 

WHY THIS MATTERS

So when a brand is judged solely on pricing, it often overlooks everything that came before it; the weeks of sourcing, the manual labor, the decision-making, the people involved in every step.

A bag is not a necessity, it is a decision; yet the reaction to pricing often treats it as if something essential is being withheld, rather than something optional being offered.

Not everyone is the market for every product, and that is okay; but price is never just a number attached at the end, it is the result of a system.

For those who take the time to understand that system, the value becomes clearer, and for those who choose to carry Om in their journeys, and share it with others, we are grateful; because what we are building is not just a product, it is a way of doing things.