The importance of artisans to achieve Sustainable Fashion

Looking back in history, we see that originally fashion expressed the character and culture of a world, using manual techniques and natural fibers. The design was carried out as a reflection of culture and society. This is an idea of ​​an almost extinct world that we need to recover.

The fashion industry today often leaves out the ancestral knowledge that has made fashion a unique and invaluable cultural phenomenon. However, there are many cases in which both aspects are merged and quality, luxurious and original products are achieved that, in addition to reviving the beauty and authenticity of ancestral arts, a heritage of humanity that tends to disappear, promote sustainability. with the intention of creating positive change.

Of course, sustainability and luxury are about time: the time spent on each garment, careful preparation, modification and refining so that true luxury products last longer and produce less waste. Today, in the fashion industry, both luxury and fast fashion are in crisis due to the absence of good practices in their production chains. The common denominator is the lack of respect for the working conditions of the people included in the production chain and, in turn, the lack of respect for the environment, due to the constant generation of polluting elements.

There is a new generation of innovators in the luxury sector who see sustainability as a driving factor rather than a brake on innovation and promote local development, natural fibers, artisanal techniques and design as a transformation tool and bridge with cosmopolitan markets.

At animaná we promote the rebirth of the culture, arts and secrets of Patagonia and the Andes. This region is a pillar full of energy and power that has an important reserve of vitality, nature and mystery. Many of the ancestral knowledges related to traditional craft techniques are housed there, a fundamental part of the culture, art and heritage of the region.

We develop high-quality handmade fashion garments, with unique and unrepeatable characteristics, respecting fair trade and promoting the use of natural fibers, as well as promoting better local development through these practices.

Products with identity and artisanal quality are a resource for genuine sources of work to combat the growing mechanization processes that displace hundreds of people out of the labor market. At the same time, consumer markets seeking products outside of mass and industrial production are progressively growing.

There is a reality and it is that it is necessary for industries and companies to adopt sustainable practices and develop ethical business behaviors due to the constant loss of traditional artisanal techniques. In relation to these realities, global arts are potentially positioned as the future of the luxury fashion industry.

Artisans are the main characters in the new paths towards luxury fashion. Masters of the arts who hold both wisdom and ancestral secrets in their hands. Messages are embedded in every piece they make. The time has come for us, as consumers, to start listening.

Culture, history and heritage are priceless, and the authenticity of products made with ancient skill sets is a means to revitalize the luxury fashion market.

In this sense, Argentina has a cultural heritage of knowledge and practices of enormous richness due to its diversity, quality and deployment. Promoting and making visible this heritage that today is at risk of disappearing ensures its preservation and expansion and in turn makes crafts and knowledge a labor platform for all regions of the country.

In this reality that we live in, where knowledge is being lost due to the inability to compete in an industry obsessed with fast and cheap products, or expensive products but void of quality, the best opportunity for traditional crafts to survive and preserve itself for generations future is through recontextualization in the luxury fashion market.

The truest measure of luxury is something that survives and is passed on to the next generation. That is the attitude that all sustainable consumption needs to ensure that the Earth survives for the next generation and for all generations to come.