Intentionality, Inc
R2R | Rags2Riches
(
Private sector
)
#SDGAction58113
Description
Intentionality, Inc., through its pioneering brand Rags2Riches (R2R), creates eco-ethical fashion and home accessories by upcycling overstocked fabric, locally sourced materials, and indigenous weaves while providing sustainable livelihoods to urban artisans and marginalized communities in the Philippines. The organization follows a circular economy approach that transforms textile waste destined for landfills into high-quality, handcrafted products with cultural significance. Since 2007, R2R has diverted over hundreds of tons of textile waste from landfills while preserving traditional Filipino craftsmanship. The company's supply chain emphasizes transparency, fair labor practices, and minimal environmental impact through resource efficiency and waste reduction at every stage of production.
Intentional Design Everything starts with design. So if we start it with intention, great things can follow. We don't just design amazing products, we design the way these products come to life and get to our advocates. Sustainable Materials While there is no perfectly sustainable way to make things, we try our hardest to come close. We upcycle pre-production deadstock fabric and we are always actively seeking and sourcing for materials that consider sustainability throughout the whole supply chain. Long-lasting Products A huge % of the clothes produced in a year are thrown out during that same year. The waste that the fashion industry generates can greatly be reduced by simply using what you have for as long as you have them. We design and make our pieces in a way that makes it feasible for advocates to love them for a long time. Empowering Trade Actual human beings make the R2R pieces. They are artisans who are weaving their own stories and transforming their own lives for the better.
Intentionality, Inc. offers comprehensive skills training programs for artisans, covering technical production skills, quality control, basic accounting, and entrepreneurship. The organization has established the R2R Academy, which provides a structured curriculum on sustainable design, waste management, and circular economy principles to both artisans and external stakeholders in the fashion industry. Through strategic partnerships with educational institutions, R2R hosts regular workshops and internship programs that expose design students to sustainable production practices.
Intentionality, Inc. operates through a for-profit inclusive enterprise business model with direct engagement between designers, artisans, and markets. The company is governed by a Board of Directors that includes representation from both business and community stakeholders, ensuring decisions balance financial sustainability with social impact. Sustainability principles are documented and implemented starting from the design creation up to end-of-life of products. The management team oversees environmental initiatives and monitors progress against established sustainability KPIs, including waste diversion rates, hours of empowering artisan livelihood, and artisan savings retention that indicates how the artisans are able to plan for their future. Cross-functional teams composed of designers, production experts, and community representatives collaborate on product development to ensure both marketability and adherence to sustainability principles.
Economic empowerment - We track income increases for our artisan partners, many of whom are women from low-income communities. This includes measuring baseline income versus post-R2R partnership income. Community development - R2R monitors the number of communities reached and artisans employed, tracking how our network expands over time. Skills development - We measure the acquisition of technical artisan skills, business knowledge, and financial literacy among their community partners. Environmental impact - As part of our eco-ethical approach, R2R tracks metrics related to upcycled materials used and waste diverted from landfills. Quality of life improvements - Beyond income, they assess improvements in living conditions, education access, healthcare, and overall well-being of our artisan partners. We also measure savings and savings retention that indicates the artisans abilities to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
Community artisan groups, corporate partners, IKEA Philippines
SDGS & Targets
Goal 5
Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
5.1
End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
5.1.1
Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non‑discrimination on the basis of sex
5.2
5.2.1
Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by form of violence and by age
5.2.2
Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by age and place of occurrence
5.3
5.3.1
Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18
5.3.2
Proportion of girls and women aged 15-49 years who have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting, by age
5.4
Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate
5.4.1
Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location
5.5
Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life
5.5.1
Proportion of seats held by women in (a) national parliaments and (b) local governments
5.5.2
Proportion of women in managerial positions
5.6
Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences
5.6.1
Proportion of women aged 15-49 years who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care
5.6.2
Number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education
5.a
Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws
5.a.1
(a) Proportion of total agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, by sex; and (b) share of women among owners or rights-bearers of agricultural land, by type of tenure
5.a.2
Proportion of countries where the legal framework (including customary law) guarantees women’s equal rights to land ownership and/or control
5.b
5.b.1
Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex
5.c
Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels
5.c.1
Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment
Goal 8
Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
8.1
8.1.1
Annual growth rate of real GDP per capita
8.2
Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors
8.2.1
Annual growth rate of real GDP per employed person
8.3
Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services
8.3.1
Proportion of informal employment in total employment, by sector and sex
8.4
Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption and production and endeavour to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, in accordance with the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production, with developed countries taking the lead
8.4.1
Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP
8.4.2
Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP
8.5
8.5.1
Average hourly earnings of female and male employees, by occupation, age and persons with disabilities
8.5.2
Unemployment rate, by sex, age and persons with disabilities
8.6
8.6.1
Proportion of youth (aged 15-24 years) not in education, employment or training
8.7
Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms
8.7.1
Proportion and number of children aged 5‑17 years engaged in child labour, by sex and age
8.8
Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment
8.8.1
Fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 workers, by sex and migrant status
8.8.2
Level of national compliance with labour rights (freedom of association and collective bargaining) based on International Labour Organization (ILO) textual sources and national legislation, by sex and migrant status
8.9
By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products
8.9.1
Tourism direct GDP as a proportion of total GDP and in growth rate
8.10
Strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions to encourage and expand access to banking, insurance and financial services for all
8.10.1
(a) Number of commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults and (b) number of automated teller machines (ATMs) per 100,000 adults
8.10.2
Proportion of adults (15 years and older) with an account at a bank or other financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider
8.a
8.a.1
Aid for Trade commitments and disbursements
8.b
By 2020, develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment and implement the Global Jobs Pact of the International Labour Organization
8.b.1
Existence of a developed and operationalized national strategy for youth employment, as a distinct strategy or as part of a national employment strategy
Goal 12
Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
12.1
Implement the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, all countries taking action, with developed countries taking the lead, taking into account the development and capabilities of developing countries
12.1.1
Number of countries developing, adopting or implementing policy instruments aimed at supporting the shift to sustainable consumption and production
12.2
By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources
12.2.1
Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP
12.2.2
Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP
12.3
By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses
12.3.1
(a) Food loss index and (b) food waste index
12.4
By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment
12.4.1
12.4.2
(a) Hazardous waste generated per capita; and (b) proportion of hazardous waste treated, by type of treatment
12.5
By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
12.5.1
National recycling rate, tons of material recycled
12.6
Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle
12.6.1
12.7
Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities
12.7.1
Number of countries implementing sustainable public procurement policies and action plans
12.8
By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature
12.8.1
Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment
12.a
Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production
12.a.1
Installed renewable energy-generating capacity in developing and developed countries (in watts per capita)
12.b
Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products
12.b.1
Implementation of standard accounting tools to monitor the economic and environmental aspects of tourism sustainability
12.c
Rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions, in accordance with national circumstances, including by restructuring taxation and phasing out those harmful subsidies, where they exist, to reflect their environmental impacts, taking fully into account the specific needs and conditions of developing countries and minimizing the possible adverse impacts on their development in a manner that protects the poor and the affected communities
12.c.1
Amount of fossil-fuel subsidies (production and consumption) per unit of GDP
SDG 14 targets covered
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Deliverables & Timeline
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Region
- Asia and Pacific
Geographical coverage
Other beneficiaries
The direct beneficiaries of Intentionality, Inc. 's work include over 200 urban artisans and their families from Metro Manila who receive stable income, skills development, and security benefits previously unavailable to them in the informal economy. Indigenous weaving communities from rural areas of the Philippines benefit through fair trade partnerships with R2R that recognize and preserve their traditional craftsmanship while providing sustainable market access. Local textile businesses also benefit from R2R's upcycling program that transforms their deadstock and waste materials into valuable products, reducing disposal costs and environmental impact. Local and international companies also participate in R2R's upcycling programs and as a result they are able to create products out of their own textile waste.
More information
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Contact Information
Reese Fernandez-Ruiz, President & Counding Partner