Nuance, the sustainable project that offers fashion for today and forever

This issue was published in the January 2022 number of Vogue Spain.

Marta Ortiz business concerns was already around 2017, but at that time she was not yet prepared to combine her busy model life with business.“He had been going around a time, but he still lived in Paris and worked too much.I did not see me with strength, ”acknowledges this 27 -year -old Valencian who has been up to the catwalks from the 15.And then, when that idea had already been almost buried between shootings and parades: boom!Pandemia, and its corresponding vital brake, were responsible for rescuing that dream again and, above all, the desire.

“During the confinement I tried to put my grain of sand through an initiative in networks that I shared with my followers.Through the hashtag #yotosigoati every day he made known an independent firm or designer.They were difficult moments for everyone and I thought it would help to fall to the storm to all those small bus.“The initiative worked so well that even I discovered a lot of new firms that were doing wonderful things.When we returned to normal I refused to end all that, so I decided that it was time to combine the old marketplace project with a platform that gave voice to all that creative talent ”.

No sooner said than done.Just a few months later, Ortiz already had very respectable 50 brands willing to embark on his adventure and a polished concept that came to respond to the growing luxurious fashion demand, but above all - and more importantly - conscientious."The minimum requirements with which a brand has to count to become part of the nuance network are the use of recycled or sustainable materials and transparency when tracking the origin of the creation of its garments," themodel."From there, each firm is a world.We have from brands that produce in Madrid and only hire women to create garments from materials such as vegan silk or organic cotton;to others that manufacture on demand and a zero kilometer philosophy.Actually, the premise is transparency: that the garment has developed under decent working conditions and that their materials advocate natural or recycled fibers ”.

A selection that today amounts to more than 60 signatures, all chosen and studied by Marta herself."I have two more girls in the team.It is true that it is me who decides whether the profile is adjusted or not, but it is nice to be able to contrast the information and weigh it with second opinions.The truth is that I cannot say that nothing has been too challenging.Since we started everything has been very fluid and organic.I could say, without fear of making mistakes, that 97% of the brands we have contacted have wanted to join without hesitation for a moment ”.Thus, from the bulk of names that currently integrate its catalog, the vast majority are Spanish.And as the entrepreneur likes challenges, the challenge is placed precisely there.“We already send everyone and have a firm based in Portugal, but we want to go further.The next step is precisely that: the internationalization of our offer.Convincing foreign signatures that joining Matiz is a good idea ”.

But if it is beyond, the concept of nuance does not end in that e-commerce that has given so many joys to the businesswoman since its launch last June.Because to the Marketplace that defined the original idea, they also join a good handful of services that, again, focus on responsible and sustainable consumption.Three pillars, as their own creator defines them, through which the purchase experience aims to promote circularity and conscious purchase.“In addition to the traditional e-commerce, we have a space reserved for preloved [second-hand] garments of first brands, where our clients can sell so with what are no longer identified, such as getting with vintage treasures of firms such as Loewe orCeline.And, finally, we have also incorporated a Shopper personnel service through which we offer personalized advice to ensure that the experience is complete and that buyers can enjoy that process as a really special moment, ”he says.In fact, in line with this last objective, the businesswoman plans to open a physical space in Madrid at the beginning of the year in which to continue with that close and exclusive focus on anyone who wants to approach him to meet him.“We have forged a very close relationship with many of our buyers and I want to pamper up to the last detail.Moreover, if I can attend them myself, better, ”he says just before releasing a laugh.An attitude under which there is precisely that personal (and individual) character that characterizes nuance.

Not in vain, to that direct decision making and its obsession that all the details are perfect, the last ace of its business journey is joined: four garments that mark the genesis of a collection of its own that shares a name with the main project."It is actually a very modest proposal," says its designer.“This is a sweatshirt, some bikers, a cap and a bag that we create from algae fiber and organic cotton under the hue umbrella.Our main objective is basically showing the consumer that when we talk about sustainability, garments do not have to be boring, but above all, there are timeless and quality pieces that can stay in our closet forever ”.In this sense, Matiz's speech is aligned with that of the current fashion industry, but we must not excavate tooGrand Fast Fashion companies change their way of producing, at least I can make the consumer change their consumption habits.Thus, at least, in the long term, large companies will begin to change the way of understanding the process.That is, I am basically doing it reverse ”, laughs.

A reasoning that can now sound very logical and even Manido, but that when Ortiz ventured to materialize, he still raised more than one eyebrow."In my house they did even bets of how many garments was going to sell," he jokes.“I won because I was with zero expectations.I think that has been the secret of everything: with each new sale I am surprised.Not even in the best of my dreams I would have imagined Matiz's success since we started ”.And perhaps precisely for that reason still today is unable to point out the greatest challenge of this whole process: “Surely the fact that, as a model, I have been knowing the gears of how the industry has been knowing many years.I am very determined and I see the next steps to follow more as objectives than as challenges because, in reality, what I like is everything: being on the catwalk I love, but I also enjoy very much when we work in our campaigns, or directlymanaging the logistics of the company ".

A logistics that today goes through expanding its signatures catalog, but also for continuing to weaving the bolillos lace that its life is.“I think I still have a model and it is something that I do not plan to abandon, although on the other hand I have many illusions deposited in this project.I want to teach the consumer that sustainability can be attractive and...Also accessible!People think that when we talk about ethical fashion the price shoots and here we are to teach that it does not have to be so ”."In the background, it's as simple as asking ourselves: do we want five coats, or one that our daughters can inherit?".Well that.