Hindy Weber on clothing as emotional architecture and the power of everyday dressing

Hindy Weber Everyday The last time I interviewed Hindy Weber was in 2023. I was intrigued, knowing she had just joined a Muay Thai Tournament, and so I reached out to her to find out more. What I learned left me in awe. To commemorate her 50th birthday, Hindy wanted to experience something that truly scared her. She went on to win that tournament, by the way, against a 20-something-year-old opponent.

But beyond being an incredible athlete, Hindy is also a fashion designer—and that is the focus of our story this time around.

For Hindy, being a Filipino designer is not about presenting identity in a single, literal way. It is not limited to embellishment, embroidery, motif, or particular weaves. Her approach to Hindy Weber Everyday begins with the diversity of Filipino culture and with the realities of how Filipino women live.

“We’re a very diverse culture,” she says. “And while we must respect and rehone these ancestral traditions of weaving and dyeing and proportions, for example, I think we took it a little bit to the point of being costumey, where I felt there was a divide into how it can really relate to our everyday lives.”

Born and bred in the Philippines, Hindy knows that her name and appearance sometimes lead people to assume that she is a foreigner. For her, however, there is no single Filipino look. She compares the diversity of Filipinos to the country’s natural diversity and says that a shared consciousness—and a shared sense of humor—can connect Filipinos wherever they are in the world.

Filipino Fashion Designer and Regenerative Farmer, Hindy Weber

She also associates Filipino identity with an understanding of what is essential: dressing practically, proudly, and meaningfully. While Filipinos absorb influences from many cultures, Hindy focuses on the Filipina: what she does each day, what she needs, how she moves through the weather and streets, and even how she goes in and out of vehicles. Hindy may observe what is happening abroad and on the runways, but she always returns to what is happening here, with the Filipino woman and her family in mind.

Hindy elaborates on Hindy Weber Everyday as a Filipino brand, “That’s how I approach it. It comes from a sense of place and believe it or not, a sense of humor. I think that’s what really connects us. It’s kind of a consciousness and underneath that is a sense of humor, because when you have that sense of humor, as a Pinoy, you just get it, you just get each other no matter where you are in the world.”

She adds, “And there’s also that innate sense of what’s essential. And I think even centuries past, we all wanted to dress in a practical way. We wanted to dress in a proud way. And it was very grounded and very meaningful. And that’s what I want to bring back to what it means to be a Filipino brand. So it’s taking all these different cultures that we’re influenced by. Even now we’re so influenced by other Asian countries, Japan, Korea. It’s listening to all these things. Observing all these things and bringing it down to what’s essential.”

That identity appears in her clothes without having to be announced. Some references are deliberately subtle: embroidery inspired by indigenous tattoos on the Batok shorts, or details that recall Philippine Art Nouveau grillwork. The fabrics, too, are selected for the local climate. Hindy believes synthetics do not work well with Philippine weather and says a heritage piece made with polyester or nylon threads misses the point. She sees Filipinos as connected to land and soil and wants that connection reflected in the integrity of the fabrics.

Hindy has been designing for more than 20 years, working across children’s wear, swimwear, maternity wear, women’s wear, men’s wear, made-to-order clothing, weddings, and the whole bridal entourage. 

She shares, “Yeah, you name it. I’ve been through the gauntlet. And I enjoyed it all.”

Then she stepped away for eight years to care for her family. They moved to Laguna, began growing food, and birthed Holy Carabao Farm.

Life on the farm changed her relationship with clothing. Although she had collected beautiful pieces through the years, most remained unworn as she stayed home with her children, took them to school, spent time outdoors, farmed, decorated the house, and played with the family’s animals—their “fur-malies,” as her children call them.

When she returned to design, she wanted to begin again and asked herself, “What do I really want to wear?” The answer was rooted in ordinary life.

“I think we give a lot of importance to special occasions, and there is a tendency in our culture to downplay the everyday,” she says. “There’s a tendency to say, ‘pang araw-araw lang yan, pambahay lang yan’ (that’s just for wearing everyday at home). So we end up looking, you know, a little bit more disheveled or, we take it for granted. But actually, those are the truly special moments, because what else do we have but today, right?”

Hindy began reconsidering why “special things” are often saved for rare occasions when daily life makes up so much of our time. She distilled what felt essential and explored how everyday clothing could still feel special. That led her back to the integrity of fibers, which was aligned with the way she thought about food: the quality of the ingredients, the soil, and how something was grown.

Hindy reflects, “We like to save the special things, the special plates, and the special clothes, or the special jewelry for the special occasions, but how often do those happen? So I really broke it down to what the essentials were in my life, and how to make what I’m wearing every day special. And that brought me to the integrity of the fibers.”

She emphasizes, “And it was completely mirroring my approach to food at that time. The integrity of the ingredients, then bringing that even further to the soil. What’s the soil like? What are these fibers grown in? I don’t want to get too technical and bore you to bits. But it really mirrored my approach to food and how I wanted to live.”

Hindy narrates, “And so I said, but how am I going to do that? How am I going to create a brand? Does anybody even care? You know, they just want to look beautiful and grand for the wedding. So it was a process of trust. And I’m so glad it worked; that there are people out there who were actually looking for this.” 

She adds, “Of course, I love to get dressed up just like anybody else. And there’s a place for all those, but I think we were completely missing a huge part of our lives. All the focus went into the pageantry and the showing off and the special milestones. When we were forgetting what we were wearing every day and taking that for granted, we were just buying mass market, we were buying international brands. And where was the local brand that was bringing that level of beauty and specialness to the everyday?”

On whether clothing affects us emotionally or psychologically, Hindy believes it all starts when clothes touch our skin.

“So it could be like a low grade interference with our frequency because something’s itchy or something’s hot. You don’t even realize your nervous system is just kind of adapting to it. But I consider clothing as emotional architecture. It’s kind of like the foundation for your day, what you put on is really how you will sit, how you will present yourself. Absolutely, for me, it’s crucial.”

Knowing this helps us understand why solving practical problems is central to her design process. Earlier presentations of the collection relied on mood boards, trends, reels, content, and other abstract approaches to marketing. Although they were beautiful, Hindy felt they were not connecting with the audience.

She sees Filipinos as practical and careful about where they place their money. A piece must feel worthwhile and offer more than beauty; it must solve something. That may mean concealing an area a wearer feels self-conscious about, moving comfortably from morning to afternoon to evening, or working from the beach to the airplane and back home.

Even the jackets and coats in the collection answer the realities of life in the Philippines, where a person can move repeatedly between hot outdoor spaces and air-conditioned places.

“That’s how I think. You’ll see a lot of jackets and coats here, and you’ll be like, ‘Why are you selling jackets and coats in the Philippines?’ I’ll tell you why: Kase malamig sa loob (Because it’s cold indoors). You have aircon, whether you ride a bus, a car, it’s cold, and then when you go out, you’re walking, it’s hot. Or you watch a movie, it’s cold. You’re inside a mall, it’s cold, and then you go out. So I’m always thinking of those things, about how it’s actually going to be used.”

Her videos explain these choices directly: “And so I just needed to translate that into our reels, that I got you. I think about what you need. I think about your issues and problems.”

In the shop, Hindy also hears women express anxiety about their bodies. She refuses to use the term “plus size,” telling them, “There’s no plus size. There’s just ‘you’ size.” Her aim is to find clothing that works with the shape of the person standing before her. Fashion and clothing, she believes, are among life’s joys and should be enjoyed.

Comfort, in Hindy’s view, should not mean putting on the easiest thing without thought. It should allow a person to move through different activities while remaining put together. It is comfort chosen intentionally—flexible and versatile enough for the day ahead.

“Comfort can easily mean being sloppy, right? Just putting anything on, putting the easiest thing on that you don’t think about. But actually, I approach comfort as being able to translate to different activities throughout your day.”

That sense of ease begins with the wearer. Hindy wants clients to feel at ease with themselves, and leave the shop loving themselves more.

When asked if her pieces prioritize ease without sacrificing elegance, Hindy agrees, “Yes, absolutely, ease, first of all with yourself. There’s no such thing as insecurities. The moment you walk in here, I don’t want you to be insecure about yourself. I want you to be completely at ease with yourself. I want you walking out, loving yourself more and feeling more beautiful, no matter what. Underneath all that is a sense of elegance, because elegance means self respect.”

Hindy’s three considerations are fabric composition, a piece’s performance in one’s life, and color.

First, shoppers need to understand what their clothes are made of. Second, they must consider the return on investment or ROI in their own lives: Is the piece really working for them, or are they simply spending money on it? Can it move between the beach, lunch with friends, a trip, school, and home?

Third, shoppers can pay closer attention to the power of color. When Hindy was a young designer, she was not allowed to use yellow because it was believed to make the wearer look darker. Her friend Michael Salientes, whom she describes as a fashion icon, observed that many Filipinos now wear black, although it was once associated mainly with funerals. Hindy wants people to explore color more playfully—not simply by wearing every print, but by discovering how colors can be mixed in a fun way.

Getting dressed still means what it did to Hindy when she was younger: having fun. She enjoys playing with clothing, experimenting with proportions, and noticing how an outfit can instantly create a feeling. Through the brand, she hopes to elevate that experience for her clientele and expand their style horizons.

Her understanding of “lifestyle” follows the same principle. She believes the word is often used to describe something people aspire to or associate themselves with without actually living it. She is averse to marketing that imposes a lifestyle on people.

“I want to design clothes that fit into your lifestyle, whatever that is,” she says. “I’m proposing something, I’m proposing an idea. Hopefully it’s a more elevated approach to style. But it’s still your lifestyle. I’m not asking you to have my lifestyle.”

She offers Margiela as an example of a specific aesthetic she admires without following completely. She owns Tabi shoes, but the shoes fit into her world and her lifestyle—not the other way around.

“The Tabi shoes are fitting into my lifestyle, not me falling for the entire thing. I’m not drinking the Kool Aid.”

For someone encountering Hindy Weber Everyday without knowing its designer, Hindy believes the integrity of the fabrics would communicate first. 

“I think they would see the integrity of the fabric. They would notice that first. They would say, ‘oh, this is so soft.’ ‘Oh, this feels like nothing I feel in any other store. Oh, the cut of this is a bit different.'”

She adds, “But I have to say, the downside in all of this, if they don’t know me, is that they’ll feel a little bit intimidated, because it’s new. Because it’s unlike anything they’ll see in another store that easily speaks the language of what they’re used to, what they’re used to feeling, or what they’re used to seeing.”

Hindy’s perspective on mindful fashion is shaped by being both a designer and a farmer. 

“I have a unique perspective of also being a farmer. Food matters to me so much and how food is grown and consumed and so I approach fashion in the exact same way: the integrity of the fiber, where it comes from, how it was grown, is really important to me.”

For shoppers, that mindfulness begins with reading clothing labels as carefully as one might examine the ingredients in food. Hindy says consumers often focus on style, celebrity references, or what looks cool without asking how a garment will perform in their climate or on their body. Fabric composition, she says, is important and often overlooked.

Hindy believes it’s not just a matter of being trendy and throwing out keywords. She explains, “I’m not one to be dogmatic about it. There is a place for fast food, there is a place for junk food, and there’s a place for fast fashion. But I’m here to provide an alternative. And an alternative that is more accessible.”

Referring to organic food, biodynamic food, or very special organic cotton or fashion that’s very sustainable, she says, “It’s also prohibitive in terms of price, right? It’s not very accessible. And then you’ll have big brands, mass market brands talking about ‘recycle this and that,’ and then they’re still selling the shirt for a very low amount. That’s already a red flag, let me tell you, because there’s so many other processes underlying that, which need to be further investigated because you’re not just dealing with organic fiber, you’re also dealing with who actually sewed it and what their wages were, how they were treated, and just the whole process.”

With a smile, she says, “But it’s fine. You know, there’s a place for everyone, and I feel that’s just how it is in our world today, in a very democratic market. You will have multiple options, but I want to be able to be the voice for mindful consumption, mindful fashion, and make it accessible to more people. I love your questions, Mawi! I could go on and on.” In truth, I wish the interview could have gone on and on too, because our conversation encouraged a deeper look at the intention behind our purchases and the impact of our everyday choices.   

Hindy ends with an invitation, “It’s something a little new, and it’s natural for people to be a bit intimidated by that, a bit careful. So I hope to translate that— that’s why I’m in the shop almost every day because I want to communicate with them and I want them to see me here and tell them that, you know, this is real. Go ahead, touch it, fit it, try it on.”