OUR CORE VALUES
Our purpose is to impact change beyond textiles — to make rural artisan production sustainable, shift designers’ approach to their process, and inspire customers to value provenance.
PRESERVING HERITAGE
STORY-BASED PRINTS
We believe in products with story and soul, and it is with this philosophy that we uncover heritage prints from the archives of our artisan communities with simple yet compelling stories. All prints hail from an existing heritage motif tied to a place and time, with a cultural story of its own, and every reinterpreted motif is our continuation of the existing narrative.
TRADITIONAL CRAFT
We see the story of a craft, in how it’s interpreted and used in various local contexts, as a lens that reveals the values of humanity. Working with globally dispersed crafts, we explore its history and seek artisans who have learned this technique from the generations before them. These heritage techniques, in all their beauty, are a celebration of stories.
GENERATIONAL ARTISANS
We choose to define artisanship as ‘skill in a craft acquired through generational transfer’, meaning we work mostly with artisans who were taught their skill by generations before them. Most of the time these are small family businesses embedded in a community whose identity and culture revolve around a particular technique and its processes.
ADVOCATING SUSTAINABILITY
We see sustainability as a journey with the actions taken shaping its impact; it’s about the decisions we make everyday, as individuals and businesses, that come together to collectively affect greater change. We want to go beyond our commitment to ethical production and eco-friendly materials, and align ourselves with sustainable practices across our production and design process.
MINIMAL WASTE DESIGN
Using a method that reduces textile waste in the design to pattern cutting process, our production partners collect the leftover fabrics from every order. Offcut fabrics are then repurposed to create our #mattermini line. The idea, beyond minimizing waste, is to give new life to typically rejected fabrics and use them as a basis of collaboration with likeminded brands and designers who want to spread the importance of reducing waste.
HYBRID PRODUCTION
Committed to a hybrid production process, we work to bridge the gap between traditional, rural artisanship and modern, urban markets and design principles. We incorporate elements of digital and mechanical processes where it is more efficient, and handmade processes when we see that they have immeasurable human value. The hope is to enable textile craft to continue as a viable industry in the long run.
SEASONLESS STYLES
Grounded in a philosophy of seasonless styles and seasonal fabrics, every piece is created with the intention to carry you through the years to come. We’ve designed our pants with adjustable closures for waist or hip wearing – no zips; only buttons, wraps and fabric belts. Meaning, they were made to adjust to your body as it changes and grows.
INSPIRING PROVENANCE
Beyond our collaborative efforts with artisans and designers, our mission is to inspire customers to value the importance of provenance and process. To ask where and why something is made, and by whom, and to expand a community that celebrates heritage. We strongly believe that the world would be a vastly better place if we consciously evaluated the impact of our choices as well as knew the background behind what we decide to buy and invest in.
TEXTILE HERITAGE
The way we see it, the cultural history of many nations lies in their textile heritage. All prints hail from an existing heritage motif tied to a place and time, with a cultural story of its own, and every reinterpreted motif is our continuation of the existing narrative.
PEOPLE AND PROCESS
We began with a commitment to transparency, and we want to continue that practice in our everyday, beginning with the people and process behind our products. The value of craft is in its making, and in the people who carry on the narrative of the generations before them.
IMPACT CONSIDERATION
We believe that conversation leads to cause, and if more people are questioning where their clothing comes from and how they’re made, considering the life cycle of a product before purchase, and learning about the importance of retaining alternative ecosystems of production and livelihoods – then talk becomes action and change shapes to impact.