Everything we aspire to and have achieved so far
This wouldn’t be possible now without the talented team,
passionate, composed of our beautiful people!
The cornerstone of our brand is creating job opportunities for women in rural areas of the Andean region of Peru, because we are committed to making it possible to build a new future for our artisans and for fashion.
Each accessory is made in the country with 100% local materials. We can proudly say that they are made in the Andes. We are firm in our decision to manufacture outside the capital, despite the significantly higher cost compared to production in Lima. In this way, we help prevent migration from the Andes to coastal cities and the capital, which entails the uprooting of their families, customs, traditions, and lands.
The influx of fabrics, along with cheap polyester clothing and footwear, decimated the fashion and manufacturing industries in the late 1980s through the explosion of fast fashion and cheap imports. This consequently affected indigenous artisans, who replaced their wonderful traditional costumes, handmade by themselves using ancestral techniques with intrinsic patterns that told stories of social and political significance, with very low-priced polyester clothing from China.
We have been fortunate that small groups of artisan weavers have survived, and we are very proud to be able to count on them as providers of that knowledge in textile craftsmanship, which, together with the iconography, speaks of our history.
With this, we want to offer a possibility of income through continuous work in the service of weaving on looms, hand embroidery, dyeing, etc.
A NEW SUPPLY ON THE CHAIN
Our embroiderers and backstrap loom weavers who work part-time from their homes, along with other workers who make up our supply chain, are the most important part of our process.
We are committed to helping rescue textile techniques, creating a base of artisan groups in this beautiful country, and forever challenging ourselves in the way we do business.
These processes provide equitable business opportunities, training and job development, promoting responsible production in an economy that values transparency.
For us, success will always be measured by the positive impact we can have on our community and our industry. We are passionate about revitalizing the handmade industry in the rural areas of the Andes and the coast of Peru.
THIS IS HOW WE WORK: FOR US IT’S ALL ABOUT PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION
We are the first to raise our hands and say that we are not perfect. Every day we strive to be better, more innovative, ethical and sustainable in our business. In line with this, we place a strong emphasis on our raw material sourcing and want to be 100% transparent with you. We make fair payments, monitored through interviews to determine the local cost of living, measuring the price of the government’s basic life basket that meets the demand of a family of four.
We work continuously to preserve and promote traditional Andean weaving and hand embroidery skills, ensuring that this way of life remains a viable option for future generations.
FAIR TRADE AND SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES ARE INHERENT TO THE BRAND
For KARIN DE LA SIERRA, demonstrating that change is possible meant building a brand that champions transparency, empowers everyone in the supply chain, and ensures that the health of our beautiful planet is the top priority before every decision we make.
My appreciation for and desire to protect my country, its textile traditions, and our beautiful planet—an extraordinary natural world—are intrinsically rooted in me.
My love for fashion led me to fashion design and management school; but beyond my studies, I am a curious researcher and history enthusiast.
In addition to this, as the coordinator in Peru for the international Fashion Revolution movement, my goal is to re-educate people about the value of their clothing. This should be more than our second skin: it lives with us, accompanies us throughout a lifetime of experiences and, at the end of its cycle, should find its way back to a circular industry that relocates or reuses it.
I am inspired by crafts that are intertwined with identity as a form of individual and collective creativity and as a physical manifestation of beliefs and values that embody the heritage of my ancestors and the future aspirations of women artisans in my country.