Ethical fashion with ancestral techniques: the initiative in front of the voracious textile industry

Desde hace varios años, han salido a la luz pública diferentes investigaciones sobre casos de explotación laboral —incluyendo a niños—, talleres clandestinos, destrucción al medioambiente, entre otras denuncias contra diversas marcas de ropa de renombre mundial.

"The fashion industry is one of those who have the greatest slavery of children and women who work in this industry do so in an average of 16 hours a day," says Ecuadorian designer Vanessa Alarcón, in an interview with RT.

The young woman adds that the deaths of workers in this sector are recurring and, in addition, "the majority of clothing that is marketed in the market is made with fibers derived from oil and plastic".

According to the portal 'The Global Slavery Index'..

'Sustainable Fashion Matterz' (sustainable fashion imports), a platform that publishes research by several organizations on the fashion industry, points out that, in terms of environmental damage and its contribution to climate change, more than 8 % of global emissionsTotals of greenhouse gases are produced by the clothing and footwear industry.

According to data that this portal has collected, 20 % of the industrial water pollution comes from textiles for treatment and dyed.In addition, for example, an average of 7 is needed.000 liters of water, what a person takes in 5 or 6 years, to produce two jeans.

What is ethical fashion?

In Ecuador, Alarcón and also designer María Puente Silva have decided to turn that reality and join the "Ethical Fashion".

"Ethical fashion takes into account that the production processes and materials that are used are friendly to the environment, society and the community that makes the garments," says the interviewee.

He also points out that this fashion contemplates that "the production processes are circular", that is, that the garments that are made can re -enter the production chain and be used with other materials or that are biodegradable.

For approximately six years, Puente Silva, after returning to Ecuador from Spain, where he worked for different large clothing brands, began to launch, annually, zero waste collections, using recycled textiles.

"There is the need in the market of products ethically and consciously, people now want to buy something that makes them feel that they are contributing to society," says Alarcón.

Allpamamas

Silva Puente did not limit these collections.In their association with Alarcón, they created allpamamas entrepreneurship or brand, which in Kichwa indigenous language, without the final 's', means "mother earth".

But these two entrepreneurs did not want to stay alone in this process.Together with them, women from different textile communities from Ecuador work, which they arrived when they conducted research on the state of the country's textile techniques and their commercialization.

Thanks to this connection, there is an intercultural cooperation to make the designs."Maria's role is to design clothes in which this collaboration we have with each of the communities is reflected.Our designs are contemporaries, which incorporate handmade techniques, "says Alarcón.

One of Silva's bridge strategies has been to illustrate the conversations they have had with the grandmothers of the communities - which have been narrated in Kichwa and translated into the designers by the youngest - and from there the designs and embroidery come out.

How is work with communities?

Alarcón comments that they work with women from four different communities: of Gualaceo, in the Ecuadorian province of Azuay;Angla, in Imbabura;Salasaca, in Tungurahua, through the 'Andes Materials' group;And with Peguche workers, also in Imbabura, a team self -managed by the Matico Lema weaver.

Gualaceo, Peguche and Salasaca.Meanwhile, in Angla, the embroidery do.

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With each community the work is different."Allpamamas women work based on their own needs," Alarcón emphasizes;For example, Angla embroiders "need the flexibility of working from their homes, because they have children and animals to take care of".

The weavers of the Gualaceo community, on the other hand, "do not have the need to be full -time, because they have other jobs and other clients".

In that place, one of the collaborators of Allpamamas is Carmen Orellana, one of the people who knows the most in the country of natural dye, weaver of "macanas" (chal or cloth) and who has a prize of 'artisanal excellence' awarded byThe United Nations Educational, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO).Alarcón says that she, for example, "makes layers for the saints and patrons of the churches and is a job that she does not want to stop doing".

In addition to providing materials, these communities that worked in isolation in the country have been able to integrate, thanks to the work of the designers.

Design and make garments

Once these women send them their textiles and embroidery to the designers, bridge silva guns the garments.With macanas, for example, he has made jackets and pants;With chains he has armed shirts;She even uses the pieces to make other garments.

So, what allpamamas markets are already finished dress pieces, designed by Silva Puente and are made in Quito, but with textiles and embroidery from these communities."The garments that we are doing any of the communities do them, they only make the textile for different uses," says Alarcón.

The interviewee mentions that, unlike other designers, whose demands for cultural appropriation have come to light, they are aware that in no case will they take the things that artisans do and sell them in their original form."We have a moral conflict with that, because they are not our designs, they are not things that we want to appropriate.".

Regarding the payment to the collaborators, it also depends on the work modality they have with the communities.Three of these groups pay for garment made and in the case of embroiders already have women employed, with fixed salary.

Natural fibers and tincture

The fibers they use to make textiles are natural, such as cotton, sheep wool, linen;"That implies that they are biodegradable, when you stop using the garment, it will eventually return to earth," Alarcón explains.

The young woman mentions that those who provide sheep wool do the complete process.They raise these animals, they transpire them and then spin the thread by hand.

The dyeing process is also done with natural materials, such as plants, nuts, insects, among others.

New York exhibition

This year, Allpamamas women launched their first collection, which was exhibited in New York (EE.UU.), last April.

In the exhibition space, in addition to the garments, the designers presented the faces of the people and communities with whom they work, and explanatory texts on the clothing process.

They decided to take their work to that city, where they have some contacts, because they wanted to prove that they are on the right path, their intention wascommunicate the process through which one makes clothes ".

"We had a very large reception," says Alarcón, and considers that "it was very nice because the launch event was a rather important Ecuadorian community, so there was that time to also root where all this comes from, although we were inA quite different context ".

Comments that during the five days they were sold 70 % of the collection they carried."People were very impressed and, somehow, very grateful," for showing the process of creating the garments and faces of those who were part of the production.

According to Alarcón, the event allowed to create some conscience in the people who attended "the role they play as consumers to decide which clothing companies stay in the market, whether they have very unfair practices and an impactnegative in the environment or if they decide to finance brands that have a positive impact on society ".

Berlin and Madrid

Now, they will be part of the 'Fashion Week' (Berlin Fashion Week (Germany).On Tuesday, July 2, at 10:00 in the morning [local time] they will be on the Neonyt catwalk, which will show a variety of national and international sustainable fashion brands.The parade can be seen through social networks.

At the end of the summer of the northern hemisphere, they will take their garments to Madrid (Spain), where they will make an event similar to the New York.

For now, Allpamamas garments are marketed in a store in the Quiteño de la Floresta neighborhood and, for the rest of the world, through their social networks.

Soon, they will launch their website, where they will sell "stock" products, but, also, they will allow the customer to have a degree of customization of the garment he wants.

Edgar Romero G..

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