Local brand ambassadors, mostly dance students, model Dance by Lina jumpsuits. —PHOTOS BY MIGUEL GONZALES
Filipina-Japanese dancer-entrepreneur Lina Peralejo, 26, debunks the myth about the millennial as the lazy or entitled brat.
The motivation and focus of an artist have enabled her to think out of the box, and establish her eponymous brand Dance by Lina Handmade Dancewear through social media.
An achiever, Peralejo took up International Studies, majoring in Japanese Studies, at De La Salle University, Nippongo at Waseda University and accounting at the Philippine School of Business Administration.
To boost her dance credentials, she also underwent a dance teacher training course at the Riga Choreography School in Latvia.
Business-minded since childhood, Peralejo enjoyed selling meals, ice candy and hamsters.
Her dancewear business stemmed from the family tradition in sewing.
The skill was handed down from Lina’s grandmother to the mother and Lina.
While most dancers purchase their garments, she sewed her own ballet skirts, leotards, leg warmers, dance totes and other accessories.
She says that the Japanese like to produce handmade products and sell them, and that sewing shops are popular.
Peralejo started with a niche business catering to dance students. Her objective was to offer dance wear and accessories that were not only stylish but also imbued with a social conscience.
Her goal was to provide livelihood and to use her brand, Dance by Lina, as an educational medium through her social media accounts.
Lina Peralejo makes a passion profitable.
She observed that the dancewear in the market were either overembellished or boring. Instinctively, she knew that the foundation of a good design was the fabric. Hence, she started sourcing materials from Taiwan, Japan and Korea.
The dance skirts were an instant hit because of the unique prints and the flow of the fabric. The leotards were comfortable on the skin.
Entrenched in social media culture, she used her brand “@dancebylina” as her personal account on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube.
To get her brand across the world, Peralejo started sending e-mail to upcoming talents and nonprofessional dancers with picture-perfect bodies and huge social media following to become her brand ambassadors. Most of them come from professional schools such as the Royal Swedish Ballet Academy, Master Ballet Academy and London Russian Ballet.
She also tapped young professionals from the Het Nationale Ballet in Netherlands and the Royal Ballet in London. To Peralejo’s target market of teenagers, these influencers seem more like friends making honest recommendations from the Dance by Lina brand.
“I want to help girls aspire to be like the dancers whom I’ve chosen,” she adds.
In exchange for promoting Dance by Lina, the ambassadors receive a box of products every quarter until their term expires in a year.
“I get dancers from different parts of the world so that they have a different reach,” she says.
She observes that Daria Ionova, a student of the Vaganova Ballet Academy in Russia, has boosted sales in the foreign accounts.
“We also encourage Instagram takeovers when the brand ambassadors have shows. Other followers get to know about their shows in our dancewear pages also,” she says.
Through her Instagram account, Peralejo was approached by international stores who were interested in wholesale bulk orders. Still, there were challenges. Her first foreign online transaction turned out to be bogus despite a deceptively professional website, email exchanges and phone calls. She has since learned to communicate with retailers through video chats and conferences, and she requests a copy of their business permits.
Bags are made of fabrics with unique prints.
Squarespace, the online shop site, tracks its sales and inventory. Still, she maintains a separate inventory account for online and store orders. Though artists shy away from numbers, she enjoys poring over balance sheets and counting inventory.
Peralejo believes that the brick-and-mortar store is still necessary for brand credibility and for fitting. Looking at an online catalogue is tricky because of sizing. “We estimate the customers’ sizes based on the images they send,” she says.
One of the challenges is the sizing for the different markets in Europe and Asia.
“Asia is also divided into different sizing because the Japanese, Chinese and Taiwanese are quite tall compared to Filipinos. They need different sizing options,” she says.
This year, Peralejo hopes to seal transactions in London, Brazil and Canada. She forecasts that sales of some 100 to 300 products a month. She and a seamstress do most of the work. As her two-year-old business expands, she hired a branding consultant, an auditor and a sales director.
Luck shone when she met up with a reputable retailer, Tutu Dance Store in Taiwan. Unlike outlets in the Philippines that insist on a consignment deal, Tutu Dance buys in bulk, keeps its inventory count and makes repeat orders. Seeing her brand’s potential, the store invited Peralejo to teach classes in Taiwan while promoting her products.
And also because of her online presence, Ballet Philippines tapped her to make the costumes for a recent concert.
With all the scrap materials, Peralejo and a partner are starting another business. Dubbed Linens by Lina, it will offer totes, eco bags, pouches and other cutesy accessories, upcycled from the excess fabrics. It targets a larger market of teens and adults.
Ultimately, Peralejo reverts to her vision of educating through her dancewear brand. “In my YouTube channel, I offer suggestions to dancers, educate them and give sewing tips to dancers and nondancers alike,” she says.
Her dream is to put up a dance academy with an extensive program that includes costume making and theater and a showroom for Dance by Lina. —CONTRIBUTED