This Fil-Am retail brand is for the cool anaks of California

Oxnard-based retail brand Love, Seresa started off as a small handcrafted jewelry business | Photos from @loveseresa/Instagram

Save the sabaw for me. It’s one of the relatable Filipino expressions emblazoned on the pieces by Oxnard-based retail brand Love, Seresa. For the brand’s Filipina-American owner and designer Lauren Barrera, her fun designs are rooted in and draw from Filipino pride.

Love, Seresa’s rebranded logo reimagines the sun symbol on the Philippine flag as someone young and carefree, which is exactly the type of person the brand hopes to attract. What started off as a small handcrafted jewelry business now boasts collections of trucker caps, tote bags, shirts, and crewnecks among other goods.

One of Love, Seresa’s bestsellers is a tote with the words, “Support your local Filipino artist, innovator, entrepreneur, small biz owner, dreamer, _____” on it.

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“I make designs for the whole pamilya to tsismis about. My brand is dedicated to all the cool anaks (kids) at heart, a club we’re all a part of,” Barrera describes the brand’s ethos on Etsy. “We’re all about embracing one’s culture, community, and finding relatability in those shared traditions and memories that connect us with our heritage.”

“My biz is named after my mom Cherry, who gave me my Filipino roots. [The Filipino] word ‘seresa’ means ‘cherry’ in English. I come from two beautifully diverse ethnicities, being that my mom is Filipino and my dad is Mexican,” adds Barrera.

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And for Barrera, the brand is not just about fostering community, but healing as well. “I was unfortunately one of the many Americans nationwide who were laid off from their full-time job due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During my time off work I’ve rediscovered my passion for creating. Art has always been a healing place for me.”

If you want to join Love, Seresa’s cool anak club, the brand is set to drop two new designs in February: the Sing To Me Pare crewneck and the Priends Poreber jumbo zipper tote. 

You can find Love, Seresa on Etsy or you can keep an eye out for it in local pop-ups.