Culture is the brief.
The product is the proof.

NOSTALGIA began in 2017 with screen-printed shirts sold out of a car trunk. The first drop got about ten orders. Humbert Lee joined as co-founder in 2019, and the operation became a Filipino-American apparel brand built around product, culture, campaign and direct customer relationships.

The brand has since passed $2M, reached a 130K audience across NOSTALGIA channels, been worn by YG, Blxst and Toosii, been featured by Vogue Philippines, and been selected by the NFL.

The challenge was making cultural specificity feel lived-in rather than decorative, while building something that could operate as a real apparel business. Every idea had to carry through from graphic and garment to campaign, drop and restock.

What I personally led: brand direction, apparel design and development, licensed collaborations, campaign creative, social growth and launch execution.

What was shared: co-founder-level business direction with Humbert Lee as the company grew.

The work starts with a specific customer — a Filipino-American kid in the Bay Area — and what he actually wants to wear. Culture is the source material, but the garment still has to fit, ship, sell and earn a place in someone's rotation.

Line planning, graphics, CADs, tech packs, BOMs, trims, fit review, factory communication, sampling and approvals — the full sequence required to move a product from concept to finished inventory.

dev-1 · 4:5

dev-2 · 4:5

dev-3 · 4:5

"It would've been easy to just slap our logo on a shirt, but I wanted more."

A 30-hour journey and a three-hour trek to Buscalan to put a cream paisley lace barong tagalog on Apo Whang-Od, the 107-year-old mambabatok. Vogue Philippines covered it.

buscalan · 4:5

barong · 4:5

The machinery behind the product: Meta Ads, Klaviyo email and SMS, Pinterest, and a restock cadence that converts launch energy into repeat customers.

• Brand direction
• Apparel graphics
• CADs & tech packs
• Materials & trims
• Sample revisions
• Campaign creative
• Social content
• Launch planning

NFL Origins brought together three brands for Super Bowl LX: NOSTALGIA, Blvck Scvle and Aaron De La Cruz. The collection had to speak to Bay Area football memory while meeting the standards of licensed product distributed through NFL Shop.

The tension was making a collection with a distinct local visual language without flattening it into generic stadium merchandise — and keeping that point of view intact through production, approvals and scale.

What I personally led: creative direction, graphic design, model casting and campaign shoot production.

What was shared: licensing terms with Humbert, and approvals with the NFL and Fanatics.

The vernacular came from swap meets, airbrushed kiosk tees, lowriders and hand-me-down Starter jackets — not stadium merchandise. The collection was made in that language rather than referencing it from outside.

Campaign direction, casting and shoot production built so the product reads as native to the same Bay Area memory that produced the graphics.

nfl-camp-1 · 4:3

nfl-camp-2 · 4:3

• Creative direction
• Graphic design
• Licensed product development
• Approval-ready artwork
• Model casting
• Shoot production
• Campaign assets
• Launch support

A traditional garment translated into denim, with attention to construction, silhouette and cultural specificity.

How to make a contemporary product without stripping the original garment of the details that carry its identity — and to be honest about what was kept and what was changed.

Mandarin collar, frog closures, boxy line, ceremonial proportion.

• Product concept
• Silhouette translation
• Denim direction
• Trim development
• Construction specs
• Sample feedback

NOSTALGIA's channels carry reach and drop hype on TikTok, product and campaign on Instagram. My personal TikTok (40K) does founder-voice storytelling that sells without reading as an ad. Pinterest works as the search and evergreen layer.

Content builds audience → audience validates product direction → product gives content something real to be about. Most social managers can only show the first arrow. Showing all three is the difference between a social media manager and a brand marketing manager.

Packing orders, factory footage, drop countdowns, wear-tests, the Buscalan trip.

• Channel strategy
• Content direction
• Founder storytelling
• Drop campaigns
• Pinterest layer
• Email & SMS support
• Community management
• Audience feedback loop