- Meet Adriana Marina -
Animaná is a social business which promotes fair trade, local development and incorporating added value to the natural fibres of the area. Ensuring that the story of the maker is told, the brand invites young designers from around the world to work closely with artisan communities to exchange their experiences and knowledge, and to produce knitted clothing garments and home wear that is stylish, comfortable and timeless.
(Founder, Adriana Marina)
Q: What inspired you to join/start your Ethical business?
A: All of this came up out of a calling to contribute to a sustainable world, which I feel in my gut is the only possible world. I was born in Patagonia and was raised surrounded by nature and sheep. And that’s where you can hear the truth and wisdom of the Earth. Then, as an economist I worked a lot investigating issues such as poverty and inequality. After that, I learned about new technologies, changes in economic habits and knowledge networking including universities. All of this gave me some sort of initial exercise to develop this project.
Q: What did you do before joining/starting your business?
A: I was born in Patagonia near the southern most point of the world. I'm fully committed to sustainable production, economic development of local communities, relationships with the artisans from the Andes and Patagonia and education of sustainability in fashion through NGO Hecho x Nosotros and Foro Moda Etica Latinoamérica. After obtaining my PhD in Economics, I concentrated on issues of local development, inequality and poverty alleviation, specifically the task of transforming scholastic theory into proactive action within this region. I launched Animaná in TBD as a social enterprise focused on reviving the Patagonian and Andean culture which I so deeply love.
Q: What are the 2 points (or more!) that makes your brand sustainable/ethical?
A: To begin with, working with artisans and women from a humble position in society, and located far from cities, already causes us to have an alternative model. We got to them through years of working in this, and through my personal experience. I have lived in different places of the country and looked for collaborations with these groups of people, to form working teams, to give them ideas on how to improve their products, their management and their organization. We work a lot with handcrafting, with their arts, their techniques and abilities, also with their idiosyncrasies and their working hours and their difficulties. Therefore, it’s completely alternative to the industrial or commercial model as you know it.
Animaná is a social company because it is genuinely focused on the appreciation of people, communities and its richness. They are the world’s heritage. If you go to Tilcara or other similar places, the local tourist shops are selling Chinese products. It’s terrible seeing that the community has these treasures and people that visit those places want to have contact with local culture but they leave with a foreign-made souvenir.
Besides, Animaná is a certified B Corporation since 2013, being one of the firsts of fashion business. All of this is done with the objective to demonstrate transparency and veracity in what we communicate that we do. This is an extreme posture. I wanted to propose it, analyzed if it was feasible to do it, and then if it was possible to make it more radical. And well, we’re trying!
Q: What do you love the most about your job?
A: The message and inspiration to many people who shares our values and goals.
Q: How do you balance work/home life?
A: I don't, there are no differences since Animaná is a part of my life.
Q: What achievements are you most proud of in business and or life?
A: To be compromised with the world giving a voice in fashion that impacts socially and environmentally, which protects culture, cares for human health of the people that use the marvellous fibres and for babie's future.
Q: Who do you admire and why?
A: The wisdom of Nature.
Shop our animanà products here!
