Revibe Culture creates ‘artwear’ that saves the environment

How Revibe Culture combines streetwear with sustainability

Revibe Culture gives new life to garments that would otherwise be forgotten or discarded, reworking them with other vintage or secondhand pieces. 

Founded by Joe Ruiz and Bianca Sato, the brand draws from the worlds of dance and sustainability, creating ‘artwear’ pieces that merge streetwear, creativity, and environmental awareness. 

“When we were still students, we joined a dance group. And when you’re a dancer, you always want to look fresh. You want to look your best when you’re on stage. That influenced what we chose to wear during rehearsals and competitions,” says Joe. 

“Dance, especially hip-hop, was the starting point. And with streetwear, it’s comfortable to dance in it,” Bianca adds. 

Aside from dance, Bianca and Joe also dabbled in supplying vintage and secondhand clothing locally and abroad. This became the precursor to Revibe Culture. 

“When you’re in this kind of business, you can’t avoid acquiring pieces that have stains or holes, for example,” says Joe. “We thought of ways to give new life to these pieces by redesigning them, adding color, pieces, patchwork—and that’s how we started the brand.”

When the duo got into sustainable fashion, they took their time learning how to rework and upcycle clothes.  “It’s challenging to create our clothes, but that’s the fun part as well. With sustainable fashion, there’s beauty in imperfection. Our clothes are art pieces you can wear, and they help the environment too,” says Bianca.

“We always want to emphasize the amount of time we spend on one piece. It’s an important part of our sustainable practice,” Joe adds. “People nowadays are now more aware and accepting of sustainable fashion. They see the beauty and uniqueness of what we do. We don’t need to explain our pieces as much anymore—clients understand upcycling and get that our pieces are one of one.”

Bianca and Joe welcome how streetwear has evolved beyond its roots, now including more forms of artistic expressions, local influences, and identities. By merging it with sustainability, the duo aims to usher a new wave of fashion that embraces creativity and environmental consciousness—and they’re here to ride the wave. 

“It’s in our DNA to use mainly vintage or secondhand pieces, but there are so many ways to create sustainable pieces and textiles. It’s not always about rework,” says Joe.

“We’ve talked about this before: what if we run out of ideas? Should we use new fabric or supplies? But I’ve learned in my studies about our environmental issues, about how five to ten years from now, we’ll still have a lot of clothing surplus. So I think we’ll continue to work with sustainable fashion,” Bianca reiterates.  

“We’re forever evolving. We always want to create something new. We just want to continue what we do best, to focus on the pieces that we create. We’re not limited to what we have now. We’ll evolve throughout the years.”

Chief of Editorial Content Patrick Ty 

Photography Joseph Bermudez

Art direction Mike Miguel

Fashion Corven Uy 

Fashion editor Rex Atienza 

Words Angelo Dionora

Grooming and hair Jean Anganangan, Crish Marfil, Patricia Marcaida, and Dhanver Serrano (Nix Institute of Beauty)

Models Noel Hein and Nubi Osman

Production design Studio Tatin

Production Francis Vicente

Photography assistant Rojan Maguyon