Message that reveres the work of Cuban brands interested in discussing contributions, challenges and conditions of possibility for the Movement for sustainable fashion in the Caribbean country. It is a reminder that, even with obstacles and some initial misunderstandings, this evening was held to re-place on the public agenda opportunities and many threats overcome by local enterprises that are committed to fashion design and accessories to communicate identity and openness to the world. And why not? Also a nod to millions of people from inside and outside the island who recognize themselves as Cuban by the way they dress, a topic that for years was associated with bourgeois luxury and survived in the midst of crises of all kinds. type in the social imagination.
Cuban Art Factory (F.A.C.). Second most influential cultural space in Latin America according to surveys in the region, it was the ideal setting. Every Saturday night, hundreds of spectators come to enjoy an always different fashion show, as part of the venue's programming. Fash Rev Cuba, as it appears on his Instagram profile, took advantage of the opportunity on June 10 to take Ship 3 of F.A.C. as a home for the most important events that the Movement is beginning to generate, after the mandatory pause during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What was the objective of the activity?: Very clear, to bring together various actors in the fashion and accessories value chain at the same dialogue table. Twenty-three brands, designers, representatives of public institutions such as the National Design Office (ONDi), the Ministry of Industries and the local Government, academics and directors of communication agencies from the so-called private or non-state sector came together at the meeting. After a review of the history of fashion in Cuba and the global panorama of sustainability, the collaborative runway between ventures was the culmination of an event that is here to stay.
A novel detail: La Percha was sponsored by four Cuban artisanal natural cosmetics brands because, according to the hosts of the event, the responsible choice of personal care and makeup products is also part of our lifestyle.
Universo Mola approached organizers of La Percha 01 to share experiences and learnings. Their names? Sonia María Feria (26), leader of Madeco Estudio, an emerging design collective; Lauren Fajardo (39), co-founder of Dador, a designer fashion brand; Amanda King (22) and the twins Laura Alejandra and Lauren Alejandra Rodríguez Ortega (20), students of Social Communication and respective members of Madeco and Eco Rizos Salón-Estudio, the latter, a community of responsible production and consumption.
What motivations and peculiarities of the Cuban context made this event necessary?
Sonia: «The main motivation has been to understand how sustainability has reached the Cuban context, becoming a resource to generate solutions that to some extent can be standardized on the scale of small productions.
«Looking at oneself from sustainability implies a high degree of creativity and respect for one's own and other people's work weighs in that equation. It is key to consider how we link ourselves in the value chains of others from the concern of what to do with the waste of my product, to whom they can be useful, how to reinvent and communicate it to the customer as a superior value of the brands.»
Sonia María Feria, responsible for R+D+i at Fashion Revolution Cuba and leader of Madeco Estudio,
She receives the participants of La Percha wearing a shirt from Left Limited, a brand invited to the event.
Photo: Ernesto López, courtesy of Fashion Revolution Cuba
Amanda: «Cuba is in a very complex situation, which can be understood as a new opportunity to test more friendly, sustainable and decisive alternatives. Rethinking fashion – one of the most polluting industries – will allow us to conceive fair garments at fair prices, decent salaries for the people who produce and an environmental dimension.»
Laura Alejandra and Lauren Alejandra Rodríguez Ortega, members of Eco Rizos and collaborators of La Percha, finalize details of the collaborative runway from the Fábrica de Arte Cubano dressing room, with garments from BarbarA's Power, a brand invited to the event (F.A.C.)
Photo: Ernesto López, courtesy: Fashion Revolution Cuba
Laura and Lauren: «Even though there are no large fashion transnationals [in Cuba] following the pattern of locating in poor countries, brands of private enterprises do coexist, about which the question arises, the curiosity of to what extent the debate on sustainability in the country. Many requirements intervene to make the entire product value chain sustainable – something very difficult to achieve for a small brand, from the selection of raw materials or transportation, among others. Adapting this notion to the Cuban context is one of the achievements of the event, from an open and flexible perspective.
«Many businesses use reuse and recycling strategies related to sustainable fashion. In such a globalized world, La Percha started from the characteristics of the context, it did not intend to reproduce other patterns, but rather to ask how to express our identity. Promoting Cuban fashion is promoting Cuban design, representing the diversity of national identity.
«On the other hand, as in many Latin American countries under the effects of globalization, in Cuba many young people prefer to wear foreign clothes instead of national ones, because they consider them superior. This makes it more necessary to hold workshops, conferences... gestures that allow the public to be educated in using Cuban fashion and find alternatives to make it more accessible so that we can all wear it with pride. “It is a collective enterprise.”
How do you think this emerging industry matches your interests and passions as young women and entrepreneurs?
Lauren: «Sustainability out of necessity: this is already part of the identity in this sector, which is growing with great interest in creating quality, tasteful and sustainable Cuban fashion. For brands like Dador, it is also the niche where our greatest value lies in the market. Assume our reality and difficulties not as an excuse, but use them as an advantage. "We are not trying to look like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors or anything else, but rather to propose Cuban fashion that adapts to a Cuban model with international appeal and a seal of resilience and ingenuity."
Sonia: «For Madeco Estudio the event functioned as a kind of guide, to delve deeper into how to contribute with the design and reinforce the values that the brands themselves promulgate. Understanding our reality, from where to be sustainable in a country like Cuba, landing many of the essential variables and how they are operationalized in each endeavor to look at ourselves from there, makes it possible for us to insert ourselves at various points in that chain and enhance it.»
Amanda: «As a consumer, I like fashion and combining it with makeup. This event allowed me to learn about brands in my environment, which ones match my lifestyle and keep them in mind when choosing a piece of clothing, even participating in the design, remaking it and collecting useful and incredible garments.»
Laura and Lauren: “We were drawn to sustainable fashion when we learned about cases of workplace abuse in Bangladesh and other poor countries. We began to investigate the effects of fast fashion and how from our position we could help create a more just world, where we are all recognized and participants in creation.
«As students of Social Communication we give weight to the research and conceptualization stage. It is time to think about the needs of the public, the functionality and stage of the year in which the garment is launched. This creative teamwork, which is transversal to the life cycle of the product, integrates the communication of the brand and is vital to produce taking into account the value shared with the public, the benefits of all kinds and the reputation of the company in the world. market."
What were the main lessons learned from the event, in terms of results and future challenges?
Lauren: «The best thing was the connection and collaboration between brands of different styles, that was great; a platform where we can express ourselves specifically in that sector. In terms of challenges, what remains is to create the sustainable fashion manifesto for Cuban brands, adaptable to our unique ecosystem.»
Sonia: «The main lesson is that there is no ABC. Sometimes due to ignorance we tend to standardize the solutions we offer, as if sustainability and sustainability were limited to the material we use and its traceability. However, there is much more to investigate about the defined ways to address those intentions and discover new ones for our reality.
«The richness of sharing where we are seeing the process from made it possible to understand that some brands know their values well, while others are reaching them and each one can appropriate those notions in the Cuban context. I believe that this is the path towards good practices, not fixed recipes, shared between small entrepreneurs who are paradoxically very large for everything they achieve.
During the Panel, Dador, Innatus, BarbarA’s Power and Zulu shared good practices for sustainability in their ventures. Among the strategies mentioned, employment for the community, reuse, use of materials, quality of fabrics and finishes, after-sales guarantees, community loyalty around the brands and versatility of the garments in different bodies, ages, styles and moments stood out. of the day
Photography: Marcos Antonio Caballero, courtesy of Fashion Revolution Cuba
«Other lessons point to the need for greater government support and to attract the experience of those people who first thought about culture from fashion. This time the National Design Office (ONDi) and the Municipal Culture Directorate accompanied us, with their Cultural District Plaza strategy, but much more is required.
«I think that a dialogue between the industry – with all its power in the world – and those who have found other possibilities of doing things outside of it would be equally enriching. From this exchange, disconnections will emerge in the value chain and alternatives to solve them responsibly, from the new paradigm that sustainable fashion offers for Cuba.
Laura and Lauren: «For us, the greatest impact of the event was the collaborative runway, due to the relationship established by long-established brands with emerging ones. This gesture placed them all on the same level when it came to dialogue and sharing good practices to achieve the sustainable development that we want so much in fashion, even in the midst of an economic crisis.
«We also learned the need to promote the unity of the union, the desire to continue creating as a community. The union of brands can be a spontaneous or mediated event, but never forced. The Fashion Revolution Cuba team tried to act at the event as a mediator, not as strangers who come to impose, but as an open agent on a novel topic such as sustainable fashion in our context.
«That brands see in the Movement an opportunity to develop with adherence to sustainability, not as something unattainable or a discourse that gives a good image, but because of its humanistic and environmental sense. May Fashion Revolution Cuba continue building alliances with brands, institutions and personalities representing other cultures. As long as there is dialogue based on the characteristics of our context, we will be able to reach the correct objective: sustainable Cuban fashion.»
The collaborative runway was the most anticipated moment. On stage, models and designers applaud the initiative of creating looks with clothing from various local brands.
Photography: Marcos Antonio Caballero, courtesy of Fashion Revolution Cuba
In its first edition, the La Percha program included a conference, a debate panel and a runway, a dream debut for a good part of the attending brands. With this event, Fashion Revolution Cuba reopens a door to build bridges in and from Cuba as an act of radical consciousness, which in fashion presents the challenge of increasingly reaching everyone. Led by Clandestina – a brand among the first to consider upcycling as a strategic value in its collections – the Movement is embarking on a new path of collaboration and development.