Ukay ta Bai!: Cebu’s first thrift convention

If you know where to look, Cebu City’s fashion scene is rich and diverse and thrifting has contributed heavily in the direction that Cebu fashion is going. Thrifting or ukay-ukay in Cebu has a huge audience- from the trendy and adventurous to the classic and muted, thrifted clothes are hyped for anyone and everyone. Because of its popularity, ukay-ukay shops are everywhere and cater to different price points as well. With how successful the thrifting community is in Cebu, it’s safe to say that having a convention for it is long overdue and it’s about time not only for Cebu’s community to gather, but for the community to reach out beyond Cebu.

Ukay ta Bai! is Cebu’s first thrift convention, planning to hold multiple succeeding events that lead up overtime to the main event to become Cebu’s biggest thrift convention yet. Their first event is a two-day event and was held at Unity Coffee and Vinyl, a coffee shop that I have blogged about before here. I think it’s an ideal place since their market has similar profiles. It was nice to look around the coffee shop first before the event started. I even realized that one of the vinyl shelves was a door to a room for more records.

looking around Unity coffee and Vinyl

the food we ordered from Unity on the two-day event

For this event, 26 merchants were chosen and curated to ensure that each one is diverse and can offer different things to the table. As it is the first event, the number of attendees was yet to be discovered because there is no basis yet. On the first day, the number of attendees was definitely underestimated, the place was very crowded and the AC could not cool the place down. It was dripping everywhere, figuratively for the clothes and literally for the sweat. Around the first hour after the event started, the venue could no longer accommodate the number of people that were coming in. The attendees were asked to form a line and could go in once someone from inside came out. The line stretched from the second floor of the cafe where the event was held to the parking lot of the cafe. Despite the crowd control, it was still very tight and hot inside the venue, which made it difficult but also fascinating to realize the amount of thrift enthusiasts in Cebu.

the sea of thrift enthusiasts

the line inside Unity; on the stairs and in the dining area

the line outside Unity

The havoc on the first day was not something unfixable on the second day. Around the same number of people attended, but crowd control was maintained and coming in and out of the venue was smoother.

participants and attendees applauding as the two-day event is concluded

The need for a bigger space for the next event to come is a testament of how big thrifting is. I support the contribution of thrifting in terms of sustainability. Although I think that that advocacy is capitalized on by a lot of thrift vendors, I think it was good to see a community being brought together. Hopefully, it can help towards creating a more ethical and fair thrifting environment.

some ukay clothes to dive into

Thank you for reading through my blog! As someone who values secondhand items whether from thrift or hand-me-downs, it was my pleasure to write this down. I am optimistic about what this event can bring in the future and hopefully there will be more events like this to come in Cebu.