second SKIN

In Belgium, alternative leather brand LUBAY fashions bags from leftover grape skins, stalks, and seeds.

- TICIA ALMAZAN

BEFORE SOHO FR ANCOTTE’S HANDS LEARNED HOW TO CUT AND SEW, THEY WERE ADJUSTING MICROPHONES, playing keyboards, and hitting the drums. “My [partner] sings and plays guitar [for our band Coffee Or Not],” the musician tells Vogue Philippines, “we work with loop stations. [We’re just] two people but we can sound like a full band.”

By 2020, the duo had been holding concerts and tours around Europe full-time for over a decade, while on the side, Soho was a press officer and tour organizer who promoted other musical projects. When the pandemic hit, however, she was forced to reevaluate her career. Wishing to remain creative, she began designing initial bag prototypes before launching a crowdfunding campaign. From there, she created Lubay, her alternative leather goods brand based on veganism, ethics, and eco-responsibility.

As a vegan of 10 years, Soho has long been committed to the environment. It’s why, for Lubay, she turned to materials derived from nature. The designer started with Piñatex pineapple leather, made from fibers extracted from pineapple leaves. “But the main problem was that people were questioning the idea that the pineapple leaves came from the Philippines,” she shares. “Well, I come from the Philippines. But somehow it kind of was difficult with the idea of being a sustainable brand and using materials that come from so far away.”