PENSHOPPE Designer Lab and ABAKADA Bring Chicago Swag to Manila
A Chicago streetwear favorite lands in Manila as PENSHOPPE and ABAKADA unveil their first Designer Lab collaboration
- PENSHOPPE turns 40 with the launch of PENSHOPPE Designer Lab, a new platform for collaborations with distinctive creative voices.
- ABAKADA joins as the first collaborator, bringing its Chicago-rooted Filipino streetwear identity to a 23-piece limited-edition collection.
- The collection lands in Manila this October, with select pieces available for pre-order at Purveyr Fair in September before the nationwide launch.
PENSHOPPE’s new chapter at 40
PENSHOPPE is celebrating 40 years in fashionFashionThe art and industry of designing, producing, and styling clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty trends. It reflects cultural influences, personal expression, and evolving styles across seasons and markets.Go to Fashion Glossary by looking beyond its own four decades. This October, the Filipino fashion label launches PENSHOPPE Designer Lab: ABAKADA, its first collaboration under a new creative platform, bringing the Chicago-based Filipino streetwear brand to Manila for a limited-edition collection built around Filipino identity and the culture in between.
Founded in Chicago in 2018 by Arvin Boyon and Calvin Calma, ABAKADA has carved out a distinct place in the US streetwear scene by putting Filipino heritage at the center of its design language.
The brand draws from Filipino culture and the Filipino-American experience, translating those references into pieces that feel at home on city streets rather than in a museum of nostalgia. It is heritage, but with a little more edge.
23 pieces, two perspectives
For its first Designer Lab collaboration, PENSHOPPE and ABAKADA have created a 23-piece collection that brings their two worlds together. Sporty silhouettes and streetwear codes meet Filipino cultural influences, while PENSHOPPE’s accessible approach keeps the collection grounded in the everyday. The idea is straightforward: take something deeply rooted in where you come from and give it a new place to go.
The partnership also signals what PENSHOPPE wants Designer Lab to become. Created as a platform for working with distinctive creative voices, the initiative opens the brand up to new perspectives while keeping its fashion accessible.
ABAKADA, with its Chicago beginnings and Filipino point of view, is a particularly fitting first collaborator. The clothes occupy that increasingly familiar territory where diaspora and street style meet without needing to explain themselves.
And then there is the journey home. ABAKADA’s Filipino-American perspective began thousands of miles from Manila, but the collaboration brings it directly into the Philippine fashion landscape. Chicago and Manila may have different streets, but Filipino creativity has a way of traveling well. Here, it arrives in 23 pieces.
The road back to Manila
The first preview lands at Purveyr Fair on September 12–13 at the World Trade Center in Pasay, where select pieces will be available for exclusive pre-order ahead of the official launch. The complete PENSHOPPE Designer Lab: ABAKADA collection arrives in October 2026 via the PENSHOPPE App and select PENSHOPPE stores nationwide.
Forty years in, PENSHOPPE is proving that an anniversary does not have to be about looking back. Sometimes, the best way to celebrate the past is to find out what happens when you put it in conversation with something entirely new. This time, that conversation starts in Chicago and ends in Manila.
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