Isabel Sicat is the co-founder of Toqa, a clothing brand that strives for zero waste and reuses fabric that are no longer in production. This fashion label’s goal is to produce sporty items, like running shorts and jerseys, and add a little bit of island girl aesthetic in the mix. This entrepreneurial spark came upon Sicat when she was at Brown University-Rhode Island School of Design and interning at New York fashion houses.

Her collection was featured in Vogue and the 2022 Hawaii Triennial, and Sicat was named the Forbes 30 Under 30 – Asia. What caught Forbes eye was Sicat’s mission. She did not create her label for the money but for upcycling clothes into fashion, and her commitment to Toqa was what was so attracting. Toqa is not just a fashion label, it is also art. Sicat and Aiala Rickard both remark that they were artists who kind of fell into fashion design after discovering that they enjoyed showing art through fashion. Sicat and Rickard met at college, and from there they displayed their love of clothing and island spirit, as Rickard is from Hawaii, and Sicat from the Philippines. A lot of their work is very skilled, many of the clothes are hand stitched in such a way that requires a lot of precision.

Most of the pieces are more art than clothing, which hails back to what Sicat said before, that she was an artist before she turned to the fashion industry. A unique feature Toqa has is they go to a different island each year, create a fashion collection inspired by the island, do a show exhibiting the pieces, and then move on to the next island. Sicat took on an industry that was already so competitive, and took an existing problem and combined the two, creating something that is unique and resourceful. That is what a true entrepreneur does. You can visit Sicat’s fashion label here