Filipino designer is now creative director for handbags of this global brand
KISMET.

That’s how Rafe Totengco describes how he bagged his gig as Nine West creative director for handbags.

The New York-based Filipino designer had been meaning to take a break as he put his eponymous accessories brand on hiatus (he’s not rolling out a Spring 2011 collection). Rafe New York has been a casualty of the bad economy, so that Totengco had entered into a licensing agreement with another company to keep afloat.

“But sustaining it was like pulling teeth,” says the designer. His boutique at Greenbelt, franchised by Tina and Ricco Ocampo, had closed after less than two years.

Deciding to put everything on hold for the brand as he regrouped, Totengco, 42, was introduced “over coffee” to the president and CEO of The Jones Group’s branded businesses, Richard Dickson, in August. The following month, Dickson announced Totengco’s appointment.

The Jones Group owns brands such as Nine West, Jones New York, Anne Klein, Boutique 9, Vintage America, Stuart Weitzman, Enzo Angiolini, as well as licensing agreements with Rachel Roy, Brian Atwood, Jessica Simpson.

“I wasn’t looking for a job,” says Totengco, who’s in town to receive the Pamana ng Filipino Presidential Award from President Aquino. “But I’m glad I took it. It has been incredible.”

Totengco’s initial directive is to steer the handbag businesses of Nine West and Vintage America. For Nine West, which is exclusively distributed in the Philippines by Stores Specialists Inc., it’s to get the woman who buys the shoes to buy the handbag as well.

“I think I made a compelling argument about what I thought Nine West should look like,” he says of his first meeting with Dickson. “Nine West is a global brand, and Rafe sold globally as well. So I know it’s the same woman [who buys both the Nine West shoes and Rafe handbag]. She reads the same magazines.”

The challenge, he adds, is “having that crossover” when the girls buying the shoes also start looking at the bags, “because it’s not like that right now.”

Totengco thinks the current consumer no longer believes an item is special based merely on the price point.

“Everybody shops high-low now,” he notes. “I’ve learned that it can be done even if it’s of a certain price point.”

Pocket collection

Transitioning from a high-end label to a mass brand isn’t much of a stretch for Totengco. Before designers jumped on the bandwagon, he created a pocket collection for Target in 2006. At first it was a move many thumbed their noses at, but he proved everyone wrong: The collection was a huge hit, and it generated attention for his brand as well.

Soon enough, every designer of note had a high-street collaboration.

“That’s what piqued my interest for mass actually... If the [Nine West] shoe [business] is as big as it is, there’s no reason the bags can’t be that, too. [The Nine West customer] likes Nine West because she buys the shoes. It’s not like, Ewww! No reason she shouldn’t buy the bag as well. My goal is to give the bags a clear identity.”

The first handbag collection under his direction will roll out in April. It will distinctly be “chicer, cleaner, more polished, more lady,” he says. For Nine West, he has two senior and two associate designers working on the collections.

While he’s not directly involved with manufacturing, unlike with Rafe, Totengco says his responsibilities go beyond the creative to the back end as well, including cutting costs.

Totengco says he will revive Rafe soon, under a new licensing agreement with The Jones Group. With the recovering economy, he believes the market will soon be ready again for smaller designer brands. “I would never sell my company,” he stresses.

Breather

Totengco, who’s Ilonggo, left the country in 1989 to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. In 1997, he launched his namesake handbag brand, and was inducted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America the following year.

In 2001, he received the Best Accessories Designer (Accessories Council Excellence) award from the Accessories Council. He was a recipient of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines award in 2002.

“When the economy was bad, people wanted names that are secure. But people will be ready for [younger] names again. I could’ve continued, but sustaining it would’ve been difficult. I’m happy to have a breather. The bigger challenge is Nine West. If I’m able to affect that, that’s huge.”

Totengco knows he will need more than kismet for that.