...to SARAH who did anything and everything to help us out at the L.A. festival!! She dedicated Friday through Sunday to us and this event! She generously offered her time, energy, extra snacks, supplies, and apartment (conveniently located a few blocks away from the festival location) to help us out. She lifted, she cleaned, she hung shirts, she stocked shelves, she drove miles, she walked miles for BARKADA(KO)!!!! Thank you for letting us put you to work! You're a true sister!

...to GRACE who drove all the way from San Diego at 1 o'clock in the morning on Saturday to help us ALL DAY on our first day of the L.A. festival! The time, the distance and the fact that she's in the middle of Law School right now didn't stop her from going out of her way to help us out!!! Thank you so much!

...to our L.A. BARKADA who helped us with our first day's sales and with clean-up and loading at the end of the day on Saturday --- GARY (all the way from Loma Linda), DAN, and DERRICK (all the way from IRVINE). They're not just BARKADA(KO) supermodels! They did some heavyduty manual labor for us! During this past year of festivals, I've never seen anyone carry FOUR sets of shelves full of tshirts, but they managed to pull it off along with the weight of an 8' folding table underneath!

...to TANYA for helping us out on both days and especially for driving down from West LA to get to the festival at 7am on Sunday morning equipped with Starbucks and breakfast for us! We appreciated all her creativity in helping to set up the booth and in selling the shirts. Numerous times, I witnessed her inviting people to the booth who looked vaguely interested and then watch them walk away a few minutes later after having bought at least 2 shirts! Way to go, sistah!

...to DANNY who also showed up at 7am on Sunday morning of the L.A. event and SLAVED away all day for us! He also brought multiple cameras to document the event. We hope to share the pictures with you soon, including video footage! (He even captured the drive from West LA to San Pedro! You'll be able to get a good look of the festival location! Not sure if he bought this for this event, but he got a suction cup for his video camera and attached it to his car.) Danny also helped Sarah with the "tall people" duties of hanging shirts up in the booth. He ended up swallowing a bunch of morning dew off of the tents when he was wiping down the condensation. He didn't even complain! That's dedication, folks!

...to DERRICK who helped us out on BOTH days all the way from IRVINE despite the fact that he should be settling into his new apartment and dealing with Business School!

...to our SUNDAY CLEAN-UP CREW in L.A. --- SARAH, DANNY, CAT, LANAI, MELISSA, SOPHIA --- you worked so hard and so fast! Thanks for all your help and for the laughs!!!!

...to our models who have generously volunteered their time, energy, unique style, and beautiful faces for our photoshoots and first fashion show --- BRYAN LUCENA, CAT JIMENEZ, LANAI CHAPMAN, RHENA SANTOS, BROOKE ASHE, SPENCER BARKLEY, ANTHONY DE GUZMAN, DAN SU, DERRICK CHIANG, GARY ZANE, LIZ CASASOLA, RAY MADRONIO, HELENE KENNY, IZZY SHAPIRO, MALIK WRIGHT, ALICIA SIMPSON, MEL JUNSAY, ANNE JUNSAY, TAUNGLEA AMBROISE, MADISON AMBROISE, IVETTE DUMENG, & KAT MILLS.

...to our guest photographers, DANNY YOO, GOLDIE GAREZA & CAT JIMENEZ, who have contributed their amazing skills, creativity, and supplies to our photoshoots. One day we'll be able to afford to pay you!

...to our behind-the-scenes FASHION SHOW CREW, STACY, KENNETH, PRUDENCE, & CHRIS for taking care of every tiny detail for the show and helping to make everything run smoothly. They did anything I asked of them! They all went over and above the call of duty and friendship! Each made sure I had enough food, drink, caffeine, and encouragement to keep me going before, during, and after the show! I'll never forget Kenneth single-handedly carrying all 18 outfits up and down 4 flights of stairs at my apartment! "Hey, I thought we had more stuff..." "Oh....Kenneth's carrying all of it!!!" ....And they all wore a Barkada(ko) shirt to the party without me asking!

...to ANGELICA & QUINN, for inviting and encouraging us to put together our first fashion show in conjunction with their album release party for the Apostles in NYC. Thanks for believing in our work and providing us with this golden opportunity!

...to SUSAN CHOI of loom (our all-time favorite store for housewares, stationery, specialty gifts and now, women's apparel) for loaning clothes for our first fashion show!

...to our expert folding crew who helped sort and fold approximately 2,000 tshirts in just a couple days for the Pistahan Festival!!! --- MOM, TITA CITA, TITA NITZ, TITO NELSON, KATHY, CAROL, TEIKO, NELLIE, CHARLIE, PATTY, TITA JANET, GIGI & BELINDA.

...to CANNON, our SuperHero! This brother is not human! He flew from California to help us sort, count, carry (up and down 4 flights of stairs), pack, and drive our t-shirts for us!!! He also helped us keep track of inventory and guarded our booth at each festival. He's not just brawn, he's brains, too! He provided legal counsel when we had to deal with a major fiasco with one of our vendors AND he has been feeding us with fashion ideas for our winter line! Without Cannon, we wouldn't have been able to get the shirts to California in 48 hours by car! And somehow, he manages to find the energy to work each day of each festival we've had in California! We have been so lucky to have this guy on our team!

...to GWYNNE, our Display Diva who not only helped with the sales at our NYC booth, but put in time at The Container Store and Bed, Bath, & Beyond during the previous week of the launch to gather all the containers and supplies. Thanks also for being a part of our early morning crew in New York and for providing snacks for us! Special thanks also to her mom, TITA WALLY, who spoiled us with a TON of Filipino snacks. We can't tell you enough how thankful we were to have some siopao while driving out in the middle of nowhere... like Ohio.

...to GOLDIE, our resident Renaissance Woman, for her help and guidance in preparing the artwork for printing and selecting the best software and equipment for production and working the cash register so expertly all day at our NYC booth. We appreciate her ditching most of her Sunday volleyball practice to help us out!!! Goldie also provided some much-needed comic relief during our first festival. No one can say "Supersonic" without thinking of Goldie Gareza!... Goldie has also volunteered her expert photography skills for our latest publicity shots.

...to PRUDENCE, our PR SuperMama (who's probably Filipina she just doesn't know it), to be the first one to report for duty on the day of the launch! For tirelessly working for us ALL DAY at our first festival and successfully attracting tons of different types of people to our booth. Thanks for workin' it!... Prudence is ALWAYS there to support us whenever she can. She's a great event coordinator, so I put her in charge of the models and their outfits at our recent fashion show. We are so lucky to have her helping us all the time. (She also happens to look like my sister so sometimes I treat her like my slave! Sorry!)

...to ANNE & MEL, our new homegirl and homeboy (thanks to Prudizzle), who were also the second to show up to help us at the NY festival. They probably had the most stressful job that day --- hunting down shirts for customers! Thank you thank you! And thanks again to Mel for spending the WHOLE day with us in Brooklyn helping us get ready for our road trip... I also convinced Anne to do make-up for our models at our recent fashion show. This girl is a true artist!

...to HALLIE for letting us steal Cannon for a week for our New York launch! Thanks also to her for working the crowd and passing out flyers for us at the SF festival, for helping us find a new screenprinter, and for promoting our tshirts at her family's sneaker stores! She, too, has put in long hours working the booth at each festival we've had in California! Her retail experience and expertise save us each time!

...to BELINDA for showing up at 6:30am to help us set up and expertly fold our tshirts in at the Civic Center festival in SF.

...to MOM & PAPA IBANEZ for all the extra supplies for our SF booths. The shelves and garment racks worked like a charm! And we appreciated having all the extra seating with the portable chairs! All our visitors appreciate the VIP PICNIC AREA behind the booth each time we've been in SF! Thanks for driving all the way from Folsom to the Bay Area with a van full of food for us... And thanks for the good-luck plants for our business. I think they're working!... Thank you for all your love and support.

...to TITO OSCAR & TITA PAQUITA for driving in early with Mom & Papa to help us set up and clean up at each of our San Francisco festivals. We also love the spiral shirt rack! It looked great as part of the display.

...to TITO DICK, TITA MARILYN, MARC, & RYAN for helping us set up and clean up... for arriving early and staying late. We appreciated all the extra helping hands. It was great to have some tall Filipinos in our crew! Thanks also for hosting the Ibanez family each time we're in SF. Thank you so much for everything!

...to AARON (HAN), our most creative and persistent salesperson, for letting us pin baby T's to his body --- basically doing anything and everything --- to try help sell our tshirts!

...to STACY for being part of the early-morning crew on the first day of the Pistahan festival. Thank you for lugging that extra UPS box of shirts through the hotel without a dolley! Thank you for helping us with our display shelves in the booth. And thanks for serving as our airport shuttle to and from Oakland!!!

...to TITO BINING for keeping us going with fresh and tasty cups of coffee each time we're working on our shirts back at Grace Home on Loma Lane in Orangevale. And he's always there the second we have to load or unload a vehicle! Car, van, or truck! You name it and he's always there to help!

...to JANE for modeling for us and passing out flyers during the SF festival at the Civic Center and trying to get people to come to our booth with her special choreography! Thanks for workin' it!

...to TITO NELSON, TITA BABY, & TITA NITZ for driving out from Sac and helping with the clean up, too! Thank you!

...to TITO ULYSSES for also helping with the set-up.

...to KAKA VEN & KAKA LOLENG for donating they're stylin' Justin-Timberlake style basket-weave PHILIPPINES hat as part of my BARKADA(KO) outfit in SF.

...to TITA ROSITA & TITO ERNIE for providing a safe place to park our van full of tshirts and supplies while we were in the SF Bay area.

...to our cousins KATHY & ABBEY for tirelessly helping us work the San Francisco booth in June. Thank you!

...to SIMON PAUL SIMON for helping with moving and packing right before the roadtrip and for looking after the Brooklyn BARKADA(KO) headquarters while i was away.

...to HEATHER, AARON (RUBY), JAMES, & TAUNGLEA for providing good food, good company, and much-needed moral support during the preliminary design and planning phases.

...last but not least, to CHRIS (Dr. Chris Han) for keeping me (Ardith) company for the past year during our weekly "work days" at Dean-and-Deluca where I did most of the design work for the BARKADA(KO) logo and tshirt concepts.