EcoZeal

By working through Indigenous Designs, these South American handcrafters can earn a living wage and keep their kids in school.

Serendipity.

That’s how Matt Reynolds describes his chance meeting with Scott Leonard in 1994.

The two had both recently returned from abroad and found themselves seated next to each other at the wedding of a mutual friend. 

Reynolds (who had spent much of his childhood in South America) had been traveling in Europe.  He was impressed and inspired by the level of environmental awareness and commitment he observed there. 

Leonard had just come back from visiting remote communities in southern Ecuador.  He was full of ambitious plans to set up a business that would eliminate exploitation of South American textile workers by working directly with the handcrafters.

It was a perfect match – and the beginning of Indigenous Designs.

The partners recognized that the quality of the handiwork being produced in these villages was exceptional.  But the artisans often did not have access to quality materials, or even the proper tools.  “Some of the knitters didn’t even have knitting needles,” Reynolds says.  “They were knitting with bicycle spokes.”

With high-quality yarn and the proper equipment and know-how, Reynolds and Leonard figured, these crafters could produce garments worthy of being showcased in high-dollar western boutiques.  And make a fair, living wage in the process.

Blending Cultures With Respect and Fairness

With the help of an Ecuadorian partner, they set up a business model in which groups of knitters were set up to run like a business.  They were supplied good quality organic yarn on credit and paid according to production.  According to Reynolds, the goal was to “respect and preserve cultural identity – blending old world techniques with new world design.”

It wasn’t as easy as it sounds.  As Reynolds explains,

 ”Part of the fair trade process is you work with a lot of visibility.  Instead of having to outsource and grow fast, you have to build and build and build. 

“It’s a patient, long-term model.  (You have to) build steps, put in place infrastructure that allows their work to be sustainable and to pay a fair, living wage.

 

“They’re very proud.  They’re extremely rich in culture.  It wasn’t about retraining, it was about elevating the skills that they had – how to put in a zipper, rolled hems, all the little design tweaks that Western fashion demands.  It’s never about charity – it’s about creating a partnership.”

Stay tuned for details on some of the obstacles overcome (and successes won) by Reynolds and Leonard while building Indigenous Designs – including an amusing story of cultural misunderstanding!