VIKTOR on CLAVEL issue 7

IN VIKTOR WE TRUST
They come in different cuts, styles and shades.Keep trying on and buying as much as wherever your gaze falls on but sometimes finding the right one is enough. In fact, it is that unrelenting need to find that perfect pair, that sometimes one ends up with more than how much one actually uses. Even when most find dusty piles of them at the back of one’s closet, many believe they can never have enough. Jeans.

Jeans are the very reason that it is not unusual that Victorino “Ino” Caluza often wakes up close to dawn with his cellphone going off. It has been this way for the last five years. There are text messages thanking him and saying that his jeans are the reason they just went home with the objects of their affection hours ago. That is where Ino Caluza got his brand’s slogan, “A good pair of Viktor can get you laid”. But do they really? Ino, the owner of Viktor Jeans claims this is true, “It is all in the fit. And the attitude that comes along with it.” Ino has had this love affair with denim pants for as long as he remembers. He collected designer labeled jeans, and even some one cannot find in retail stores. Fueled by his undying need to find that perfect pair, his collection has gone up to about a hundred pairs already. But from that hundred that he has collected over the years, he only has five of them that he favors and actually uses. He would wear them over and over, exhausting them for all kinds of occasions. He favored them from the rest mainly because how the pants made him look and feel. They fit him almost perfectly compared to the others. It was because of this love for jeans and to also earn money to fund his collection that Ino thought of delving into the denim business himself. 2003 became the start of Viktor Jeans, a store which tailors and designs their products specifically to their clients’ personality and partiality. The brand’s philosophy is all about sticking to the basics. No gimmicks. No embellishments. Just the basic demin. Molding their jeans to the clients’ every curve and liking. So that no pair of Viktor Jeans is like any other. It is assured that every pair of Viktor Jeans is one of a kind.

A client comes in looking for the perfect pair of jeans and what Viktor Jeans strives to do is---that a client also comes back and walks out with the perfect pair of jeans, along with a newfound confidence while wearing them. A one-on-one in-depth interview of each client is conducted; covering the specifics: the jeans’ color, cut, thread, fabric texture, even the client’s lifestyle and personality, down to the very last morsel of detail. So that the finished product is at par with the client’s idea of the perfect pants, down to its very last thread. Viktor Jeans has captured the attention of fashionistas, celebrities, and the high society crowd. But for the five years that the brand has been operating, Ino Caluza has already branched out to widen his market. Aside from the Viktor Originals (the first batch, priced around P4,500), other collection lines have emerged since. There are the Viktor Supremes (demin line with extremely intricate stitching and details, priced P5,000-6,000), Viktor Premiums (denim line that is slightly detailed, priced around P6,500), Viktor Exclusives (limited edition denim line, priced P6,000-7,000), and Lord Viktor (denim line priced P8,000-9,000). Viktor Jeans also caters to the much younger crowd. Vik denim line is the discounted version of Viktor Originals. It is more affordable (priced P3,000-3,500) for those clients who are 21 years of age and younger. And more recently, viktorino, the Little Viktor denim line was launched for children (priced P1,500-2,000). The brand has also put ready-to-wear jeans in their stores in Podium, Trinoma and Greenbelt.

After a huge success the Philippines, Viktor Jeans has opened business internationally. In Singapore, hip and trendy upscale clothing store The Black Market carries the Viktor line alongside other exclusive brands. In Sydney, Australia, Viktor Jeans are being resold online by a group who buys the jeans in bulk. Since it is near difficult to sell custom fit denim outside the Philippines, Viktor Jeans offers its products in four different fits. Skinny fit, regular straight cut, carrot cut and straight
skinny.

The owner of Viktor Jeans says the brand plans to stay here for the long haul and become a complete clothing line in time. Not just opening shops and helping people get laid all over the Philippines, but ideally all over the whole of Asia as well.
Even though Ino of Viktor Jeans is deep in the denim industry, he still finds time to put together his love for jeans with his other passion. Sneakers. Ino believes that if you’re into jeans, you should be into sneakers as well. Ino has a collection of more than fifty pairs of white Adidas Originals. He had collaboration with Adidas and was named ambassador of the brand for one year.
- SMOKIN’ A.PE