L'Officiel Philippines speaks to Pat Cortez, one-third of the creative force behind Overlay, about the brand's debut shoe collection.

The story goes that in the 1880s, Marikina City&rsquo;s capitan municipal tore apart a pair of his own expensive European-made shoes to see how they were crafted, made patterns out of the dismantled parts, then stitched them back together, jumpstarting the region&rsquo;s now-famous shoe industry.
Now, nearly 150 years later, the Marikina craft scene courts renewed interest through Philippine-born brands like Overlay, whose unconventional designs challenge and fascinate&mdash;in equal measure&mdash;both craftspeople and clients.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We partnered with Marikina shoemakers for this collection, and their craftsmanship and&nbsp; knowledge are something we&rsquo;re really proud of,&rdquo; shares Pat Cortez, one of Overlay&rsquo;s three founders. &ldquo;At first, they didn&rsquo;t quite understand why our soles were so extended or why the toe part was tilted&hellip;I think a few of them even gave us the &ldquo;ito na talaga, sure na kayo?&rdquo; look. But eventually, they got the design, and we also learned so much from them along the way. We&rsquo;re not formally footwear designers, so the whole process felt like trial-and-error in the best way. In the end, it&rsquo;s nice knowing every pair really came to life in this city.&rdquo;
Following a series of accessory releases that proved popular amongst Manila&rsquo;s fashion set, Overlay has officially made its first foray into the world of footwear, debuting two styles: Pave, a square-toed loafer, and Trace, a spliced slingback pump. Both feature distinctly slanted, drawn-out soles, a nod to the brand&rsquo;s unique visual identity.
Let's talk about your newest collection. What were your inspirations for it?&nbsp;
It actually came together pretty quickly and naturally. Since we&rsquo;ve already identified Overlay&rsquo;s&nbsp; design language, the process felt very intuitive. The offset soles and asymmetric silhouettes were inspired by the details of our bag styles, particularly the Rafael and the Gerome. The lace details you see on both Pave and Trace also reference the edges of our Rig belt bags. So really, the elements in this collection come from our past designs, just reimagined and translated into footwear.

What piqued your fascination with the silhouettes, textures, materials, and techniques you've used in this collection? What made you decide to use them?&nbsp;
Being based in Marikina is such a blessing! It&rsquo;s leather heaven&mdash;you see shoemakers and bagmakers at work everywhere. That environment really shaped us. We wanted to take what&rsquo;s readily available here and bring it a step further, so we worked with genuine&nbsp; cowhide leather. It feels more responsible and sustainable, while also giving our pieces&nbsp; more depth and character.&nbsp;
As for the silhouettes, we&rsquo;ve always been drawn to that industrial look: structured, raw, and mixed with a sense of asymmetry. There&rsquo;s something exciting about taking the classic and tweaking it just enough so it feels familiar, but also new and a little unexpected.&nbsp;
Congratulations on debuting a line of footwear! What's it been like finally adding&nbsp; shoes into your usual mix of handbags and accessories?&nbsp;
Thank you and FINALLY! [laughs] We&rsquo;ve had this in mind for a while, but this year just felt like the&nbsp; right moment to dive into footwear. Overlay has always been about &ldquo;layers&rdquo;&mdash; 01 is wardrobe, 02 is accessories, 03 is bags, 04 is footwear, and 05 is scents, so in a way, this was always part of the plan. It feels really fulfilling to finally see that vision slowly happen.&nbsp;
Could you tell us more about your brand and how it's evolved through the&nbsp;years?&nbsp; What are your dreams for it?&nbsp;
Overlay really started as an exploratory project. In the beginning, we weren&rsquo;t sure where it would go; it was more a passion project that we worked on whenever we had time. But over the years, we grew to love the process deeply. Leather is such a beautiful discipline. Not everyone gets it right away, but once you see how each bag, shoe, or accessory&nbsp; is made, it&rsquo;s hard not to be inspired.
Right now, we&rsquo;re focused on working with genuine cowhide leather and creating as many&nbsp; functional, beautiful designs as we can proudly call our own. We want Overlay to stand as a global Filipino brand, a brand that proves pieces made in Marikina can sit on shelves anywhere in the world, while still staying true to where they came from.&nbsp;
Could you tell us a little bit about your career background?&nbsp;
There are three of us in the Overlay team. My background is in design and advertising. I used to handle branding and creative direction for different brands, and I also do content creation. My sister, Cheska Cortez, is an industrial designer, which is why our style leans toward that industrial look. And then there&rsquo;s Gelai Penales, a film graduate who now takes care of marketing and directing.
So, yeah, none of us actually have a fashion degree. Maybe that&rsquo;s a good thing, maybe it&rsquo;s not&hellip;but I like to think it&rsquo;s what gives us a fresher, less traditional way of looking at design.

How has your design perspective shifted or remained since your last release?&nbsp;
Our last release was the Rig, our take on the belt bag. That piece really marked the establishment of how we want Overlay to feel, look, and make an impression on people. We experimented&nbsp; with different types of leather, played with cuts, forms, and lacing, and even leaned into that&nbsp; wardrobe-esque feel.&nbsp;
Rig gave us the confidence to really push how we explore leather. So when the time came to design footwear, it felt like a natural extension&mdash;everything flowed cohesively with Overlay&rsquo;s identity.
What are your long-term influences? What are the things that have inspired you for&nbsp; years?&nbsp;
This is actually the first year the three of us really immersed ourselves in Marikina&rsquo;s leather craft scene. We&rsquo;ve always been designing, but this was the first time we crafted bags from scratch, and that experience shaped us a lot. We were all hands-on through the process: from sourcing, cutting, to actually lacing the leather.
Industrial design also plays a big role. We&rsquo;re always inspired by how a small shift&mdash;whether it&rsquo;s in material choice, hardware selection, or structure&mdash;can completely change the overall feel of a piece. That kind of thinking keeps us curious and pushes us to keep experimenting.&nbsp;
What are your current influences? What's inspiring you right now?&nbsp;
Lately, I&rsquo;ve been really inspired by Japanese leather products. There&rsquo;s a certain stillness&nbsp; and calmness to them. They&rsquo;re chic without ever shouting for attention. I admire the way the Japanese approach craft, how every detail feels intentional. That&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;d love to bring into Overlay as well; we want to make pieces that speak quietly but leave a strong impression.&nbsp;
Your design philosophy in one sentence?&nbsp;
Hands-on in every step, present in every detail &mdash; and if we find ourselves overthinking a&nbsp; design, it&rsquo;s usually the first idea that&rsquo;s the best one.

Overlay Highlights Marikina Craftsmanship for Their Debut Shoe Collection

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