Here in The Number 60, we are always trying to keep our eyes open for something new, cool and innovative. We see great potential in the local scene and we are always on the lookout for something to feature. Enter the brand QUEENCITY COLLECTIVE. 

We hit them up to know more about their brand and what they have to offer to us and the local industry and here's what we've got. 

An introduction of the owners of the brand would be great. A little background info behind the owners would be great too!

QueenCity Collective is owned by John Carlo Bobilles and Edmund Ramas.

Carlo handles the creative aspect of the brand. He is a streetwear and tattoo enthusiast, as well as a frustrated drummer and musician. He loves bacon. Edmund handles the marketing and operations aspect. He plays bass for the rock band Blind Puppet and loves indie music.

Kindly introduce QueenCity Collective to us. What does the brand offer?

QueenCity Collective is a Cebu based independent streetwear brand that offers quality over quantity. Our brand incorporates our trademark attitude and personal perspective on street subculture, with an emphasis on people over product. QueenCity Collective is inspired by Cebu collective culture and scenes such as music, skateboarding, tattoo, graffiti and that BISDAK attitude. As a small brand, for now we offer timeless and classic graphic shirts and eventually will do a full apparel products soon.

Our website is up to date and has all of our lookbooks - www.qncty.com.

What inspired you guys to create a clothing brand?

Ever since Carlo was in his elementary and high school years, he has been a huge fan of graphic shirts especially when he started skating. He loved the graphic designs in the deck boards and shirts from the international skate brands but he can’t afford those. That gave him an idea… “why not create my own shirt”? That idea pushed me to do QueenCity Collective and have that Punk rock DIY mentality.

Edmund was inspired by the idea the Carlo started and had been wearing QueenCity Collective shirts almost every time he had played in gigs. They then partnered to push this further and then here we are. :-)

Why the name Queen City? You guys are based in Cebu right?

Yes, definitely! It’s a common reason or story to represent Cebu but we are serious about it. I mean, we love this city and the culture around it even though our scene here is small. Everyone is original and have that Cebuano trademark style in everything they do.

Where does your design inspiration come from?

To us, less is more. We love traditional drawing and graphic designs from the tattoo culture, vintage cartoon graphics and calligraphy. That’s what we are trying to put into our products. We’re working hard to make our product timeless and classic as much as possible. Something that you can wear now and can still wear it 20 years from now.

How long have you been doing Queen City?

QueenCity Collective started last December 2012 as a streetwear brand. We had just celebrated our third year and released the 2015 Last Quarter Collection to go with it. It was formally known as QueenCity Hardwear which was originally founded in the year 2010 that produced musically inspired clothing, specifically in the hardcore music genre.

Do you guys have upcoming events for your brand?

For the Sinulog weekend, we will be at CAP Auditorium for Lightbulb Project’s Merch Expo on Saturday 16-Jan-16.

We are also looking forward to the new drops for our first collection of 2016. That would probably be on February or early March.

What other hobbies do you do aside from QUEENCITY Collective? Do you guys have day jobs?

Carlo considers himself as a slave in the corporate world because he needs money to finance QueenCity Collective haha. He works as a PMO in a Consulting and IT company. Off work, he spends most of his time on the internet. Reading articles/blogs to the brands he looks up to for him to learn and know what is happening in streetwear culture. He has recently enrolled himself to learn to play drums and he is psyched about it.

Edmund also works in an IT field as a project controller. That is where he gets most of his operations and technical experience and then applies these to QueenCity Collective.

Our day jobs really helped us to start this project, but it has now grown to be self-sufficient.

What are your thoughts on kids being able to create their own path in the industry (aka the millennial way of being able to do it themselves)?

It’s awesome! It’s great to see that everyone is doing their own thing locally and is showing how diverse and original their brands are. Before, Filipino youth tend to look up on copping imported brands because thinking that “It’s Cool!” seemed to be the norm; but today it’s different. Everyone has something to offer which is contributing to put the name of PH in the Global Industry. It’s a competitive pit; there is a new brand will pop out everyday and you just have to make sure that you stand out and be true to your brand.

Any tips on kids wanting to create their own label?

Be true and be passionate about your brand or whatever you want to create. Make sure that your brand reflects of who you are that backs up of what you are trying to say and offer with your brand. Do not worry about not reaching the heart of the masses, you can’t please everyone or make people like your brand and that’s ok. It’s better to have a few true believers of what you are doing rather than a pack of people (hype) that do not understand what you are trying to create. Yes, of course money/ income is essential. That’s what makes your brand alive and kicking but don’t let it make you change the path you are going. Put passion and hard work first then the money will come second.

One thing we learned as well is to understand that being in this business involves risk. Celebrate those wins, and take those losses like a man and learn from them.

What’s the QueenCity Motto?

“By any means necessary, to go beyond one’s powers” – QueenCity Collective is our dedication to those people who say what we can’t do.



You can check out QNCTY and their new release on their site HERE, IG and Like them on FB too.