V12 Radgear

At V12, that’s a lesson we cherish learning—it provided the spark we needed to create a clothing company from scratch. It was 1997 when Noe’s trusted old Mojos were down to its last licks, so he tried repairing it. Once he took it apart, he found out it wasn’t all that hard, and that he may just have the mad skills to make one on his own. And that day saw the humble birth of V12 Radgear. From that accidental discovery of the innate craftsman in him, Noe started his little mad lab behind his mother’s kitchen in Labangon, Cebu City while he was an applicant at SAAG, a Southwestern University mountaineering group. In that same year he started making flip-flops for Tropical Relic, delivering several dozens a week. He started expanding into accessories and bags made to order by his peers in the outdoor scene. Back then he was still a one-man company, designing, manufacturing and marketing his products, which by then remained unnamed. Then in 1998 he hired a tailor from his neighborhood but was still churning out his products from a single sewing machine. He still laughs when he remembers running to the nearby tailoring when he needed their special machines for edging and the like. There was even a time he had to do everything on his own again after he lost his only tailor. At this point, Noe was sewing his own cotton climbing shorts, sticking to simple and functional designs focused on workmanship, comfort, performance and versatility. Today, these are still the same standards we strive for every V12 product to meet. A year later he would get the break he needed when Habagat GM Joselu “Lolong” Velasquez took a liking for the prototype shorts Noe was wearing while climbing at the old Vertigo Climbing Center at Baseline Complex along Juana Osmeña St. This would lead to a deal with Habagat in 2000, introducing the new brand V12 Radgear (coined by Noe’s climbing buddy Anthony “Tonton” Quintanar) to a wider market. His first measly batch delivered was less than twenty items, which included his first models like the Dyno Pants and Tradnickers. More than a decade later, even as we keep pace with the innovations in outdoor apparel, we remain driven in our commitment to bring you the best quality products.