Good brands shouldn't stall because the maker is doing everything.
The Philippines is full of brands people love: clothes, bags, homeware and food, made by hand, in small batches, often in small towns. Many reach the point where demand outgrows the founder.
Why we exist
The product is right and the customers are there, but the business around it isn't. Prices were set years ago and never revisited. Stock runs out at the wrong time. The website doesn't sell. A stockist abroad asks for a contract, a trademark and a landed price, and nobody has time to work them out.
That's the gap we fill. You lead the craft and what the brand stands for. We build the business around it: commercial, operations, growth, legal and finance, in the order that gets you selling more.
Who we are
Small Town Studio was founded by two partners, and it's powered by Frankie General Store.
Jammy San Juan-Magsino
Founding partner ยท Founder of Frankie General Store
Jammy built Frankie General Store into a home for independent Philippine makers: slow fashion, small-batch and handmade goods, sold in Manila and, since 2021, in Paddington, Sydney.
George Lowndes
Founding partner
George has launched consumer brands into new countries. At the studio he leads the business side: pricing, operations, growth and the numbers behind each market.
Frankie General Store is where many of the brands we work with first found their customers. We work closely with Frankie, but Small Town Studio is a separate company with its own deals.
What we care about
Sustainability and craft, done properly. Growth wears brands down slowly: each small compromise on materials or tone seems fine until the brand looks like everyone else's.
So before we plan any growth, we write down what must never change. Usually that's the maker, the material and the hand finish. Then we work out what can: packaging, channels, price points. We'd rather a brand grew more slowly than swapped handwoven for machine-made.
Built something people love? Let's talk.
Tell us what you make, who buys it, and where you want to take it.