EcoZeal

Indigenous Designs fair trade clothing blends old fashioned hand craftsmanship with modern fashion design.

Indigenous Designs began working with three groups of knitters in 1995.  Today they do business with 300 separate knitting groups of six to sixty knitters each in Ecuador and Peru.  The artisans hand-knit garments to the exacting specifications of the company’s in-house designers using high-quality eco-friendly fibers like certified organic cotton, Tencel, merino wool and alpaca. 

The result?  Boutique-quality handmade garments, which the company sells through high-end fashion outlets.  The knitters – who are not treated as employees but as independent businesspeople – make enough from their work to earn a decent living wage.  This allows them to stay with their families (and keep their kids in school) rather than having to seek seasonal factory work for supplementary income.

Overcoming Obstacles

For founders Scott Leonard and Mathew Reynolds, Indigenous Designs was a labor of love.  They first started out in 1994 hoping to do two things: to circumvent exploitation of talented South American artisans’ handiwork by seeking a direct connection with the knitters and weavers of the region; and to do so in a way that was respectful of the Earth.

Their biggest obstacle was financing.  “We had to finance everything,” says Reynolds.  We had to pay for everything up front, because the producers had nothing – we had to give them the yarn on credit.  We were borrowing from friends, family, credit cards, everything.” 

Eventually the credit problem was solved when the partners met the CEO of Root Capital (then Ecologic Finance), a nonprofit social investment fund that provides financing for grassroots businesses in rural areas of developing countries.  But that wasn’t the only stumbling block.

The rural artisans the company works with faced a lot of barriers that the partners worked hard to overcome.  One was simply availability of quality materials.  Typically a knitter couldn’t afford good yarn, so she’s walk to market and buy inferior goods.  Families lucky enough to own alpacas or other fiber animals still didn’t have the means to prepare the fiber properly.  So they’d produce inferior garments despite incredibly fine handiwork. 

There was also a lack of infrastructure and access to world markets.  And the issue of design.  

Patience and Persistence

“It took an incredible amount of patience,” says Reynolds of the process of teaching rural knitters the fine points of production work for Western markets.  “One time we’d gotten this really nice (big) order, we had the same sweater (being made by) three different groups.  We got the prototype, it was a medium, and we got this sweater back, and it was teeny – the sleeves were four inches too short and the waist was tiny.

“And it was one of our best knitters who’d done it.  So we went to her, and she says, ‘How do you like it?’ And we say, ‘Well, you weren’t following the specs.’  And she says, ‘No way is this a medium, it’s way too big.  Your specs were all wrong!  My cousin is a medium, I sized it to him.’  

“I had to explain to her, ‘Look at me.  I’m 6 feet tall, and I’m a medium.’  It took a while for her to get it.”

A Business of Passion

Despite the obstacles, Indigenous Designs has succeeded in their goal.  Their goods are all produced by free, independent cottage industry workers using a unique model of production.  And every item is produced using sustainable and organic fibers and low-impact dyes.

Says Reynolds, “This is a business of passion for Scott and me.  We always say, our life is chosen.  So many people told us it can’t be done.  And now to see everything going organic, it feels good!”

Visit Indigenous Designs online to find a store near you.