By Daniela Culinovic

Recently, I’ve read an article in Vogue Business by Rachel Cernansky reporting on Open source Fashion Cookbook by Angela Luna and Loulwa Al Saad, founders of Adiff, a label that makes clothes and accessories out of otherwise waste material. Did we get it all wrong? Sustainability as a movement has been creating a lot of positive movement towards the change, but also, a lot of hype that is, perhaps, leading us all up a garden path.

Back to the drawing board. “What are the priorities?”, asks Céline Semaan, CEO of the Slow Factory Foundation, and contributor to the aforementioned book, and continues:

“Create buzz slogans that advertise a $300 sustainable jumper that only a few can afford? Say that the brand is using organic cotton but still be committed to over-production and over-consumption?”

If one of the reasons why we may doubt sustainability is a lack of transparency, and, occasionally, the substance behind the buzzwords, the question is whether we learn how to recognize the authentic commitment to sustainability more efficiently. Is there a more transparent link between the sustainability efforts of the brand and its fashion product?

KNOWLEDGE-SHARING IS “TRANSPARENT CIRCULARITY” 

I’ve always found “fashion knowledge”, whether it be that of a garment-making tradition of a particular geographical region or the knowledge of garment preservation and appreciation running in a family, as a direct link to sustainability. Learning how a garment is done or maintained, and then passing on that knowledge organically generates circularity. There is something honest and authentic in telling a contemporary fashion story through going back to tradition because tradition is people who grew with their environment and who knew techniques and have habits that our industry is desperately trying to incorporate into itself to keep the planet livable in the next 10 years or so. 

To incorporate the tradition of garment-making of a particular community sustainably into a contemporary fashion brand requires a strategy. The brand must be giving back to the community whose traditions it has borrowed, both in terms of what is meaningful to the community, as well as creatively: rather than just “taking” from it, the tradition must be incorporated into the contemporary fashion product with integrity and respect. This creates circularity in a form of knowledge-sharing.

Realizing that preserving tradition and artisanship is the direct link to sustainability and longevity is what drove an Ecuadorian entrepreneur Mireya Gómez de la Torre to start Taarach (which means “women attire” in Shuar, an indigenous language of Ecuador, a brand that focuses on the Ecuadorian staple of fashion, faja. The way Taarach incorporates Ecuadorian traditional of Otavalo natives, a small community in the Andes, is ethical and conscious: Mireya buys off traditionally made fajas from the indigenous communities (she doesn’t order them, but buys off what is ready to be sold); she adds her design spin on it and sells them in her shop as a product honoring the crafts of the indigenous cultures that almost died out because they were not profitable for the community. She hopes for Taarach to be motivation for more faja-making skills sharing among the community members. 

It comes as no surprise that one of the main social aspects of the brand is to protect the culture and knowledge of the Otavalo indigenous community against cultural appropriation. “There are a lot of fake Otavalo fajas sold at arts and crafts markets, many of which are mass-produced in China. I want people to be wary of that, and I want people to learn the value of the authentic Ecuadorian faja”, says Mireya. 

The efforts of the brand have earned them a seal of approval by Remake, a San Francisco Bay non-profit organization whose main goal is to bring transparency into the world of fashion. Another recognition came in 2020, when the brand won the Design Excellence Award on Social Impact of Accessories Council.

FAJA TELLS A STORY OF A LIFETIME

Faja is more than just a belt. “The indigenous people have a lot of knowledge about the preservation of nature and objects. We, as the fashion industry, need not think hard for solutions, they already exist and indigenous people have known it for ages”, observes Mireya.

In the lives of the indigenous Otavalos, faja is a central fashion piece in the attire, but its use is not limited to fashion expression. Wrapped around the waist, it is believed that it helps garner the energy that protects the bearer from “the evil eye”, a symbol of bad intentions towards someone found in the middle eastern cultures as well. Faja is also used to wrap the newborns with, to promote healthy growth and mothers use fajas after birth for recovery. When faja is no longer suitable as a fashion piece, it is upcycled as a carrier. 

Fajas come in different prints, and the images on them are imbued with symbolism that tell a story about its wearer. They can be made in honor of the marriage between two people, in which case they often bear printed names of the spouses. They can also have printed images of animals, and nature and they can even signify the social rank of the person wearing it. In a sense, faja is an extension of a person, a personalized item that tells a story of the one who wears it.

“A lot of brands are using fajas simply as an accessory, but that is not the indigenous way of use. I want to honor all the meanings of faja that inspire my designs and I want the customer to be aware of them”, says Mireya.

If we look at the current fashion landscape, storytelling or the need for establishing emotional connection with the garment, similar to that of Otavalo people and fajas, is becoming more and more prominent in the luxury fashion, in particular. For instance, Dora Maar, an online luxury consignment store introduces style-conscious women and men of all walks of life and a customer can get to know about them and shop their closet which consists of items they are ready to sell.

Speaking of luxury, for Taarach, similarly, the “new luxury” lies in creating human connection, but the one with the ancient and sustainable techniques. To put it in Mireya’s words:

“The story of Taarach is to preserve tradition and craftsmanship so that they don’t disappear. This is where I see authenticity and, ultimately, originality in the fashion statement of the one who wears it”.

LINKING AESTHETICS OF THE ANDES TO THE CONTEMPORARY FASHION 

A belt is an important accessory. We can use it to play with the proportions, accentuate our waistline and also lift up a little black dress. As for Taarach belts, they are for anyone who appreciates traditional crafts and wishes to uplift their look. They come in different sizes and shapes, and each one is uniquely made. There are two collections: the Ecuador collection and the Special collection.

These pair well with Etro, an ethno-inspired luxury brand that Mireya sees Taarach collaborating in the future.

GIVING TO THE COMMUNITY SAVES BIODIVERSITY

A portion of each belt purchase, Taarach donates to One 1 One project that helps feed children of street peddlers in an organized daycare, which educates children and keeps them off the streets.

In the future, Mireya’s goal is to grow and build a community center where she would employ the indigenous artisans to preserve the garment-making tradition of Otavalo people, make it profitable for the community, and learn more about it herself. 

We can’t wait to see what comes next for Taarach, and I hope Taarach serves as an inspiration for other brands to celebrate the local garment-making traditions and help them save from extinction. Saving tradition, ultimately, saves the biodiversity of our planet, and that is a facet of sustainability.

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