AMANA - DELIVERING IN TRUST
Amana was launched this year by fashion graduates Helen and Erin, with a view to combine their belief in ethics with their love of fashion. The two lived together for three years whilst at university in London. Helen was at Central Saint Martins studying fashion design where she became interested in sustainable textiles and natural dyes. Meanwhile Erin was studying Fashion Management at the London College of Fashion and was becoming interested in fair-trade practices in the fashion industry. She went on to write her dissertation on fair-trade fashion. After graduating in 2005 she spent some time in Gujarat, India with an ethical textile importer working with some of the local co-operatives.

The two were inspired to create something of their own that would dispel the idea that ethical meant unfashionable. Erin says, "We became disillusioned with the exploitation of workers and the environmental damage caused by the fashion industry. We wanted to prove it doesn't have to be this way. Our goal is to create fashionable, beautiful garments, where our customers can trust that from the cotton farmer to the finishing stitches every effort has been made to protect the environment and respect the people involved”.

And so Amana, meaning literally “delivered in trust” in Moroccan Arabic, was born. “We focus on sourcing fabrics that have a minimal negative impact on the environment. This collection is made from beautiful organic cottons, hemp and silk mixes, chunky hemp cord, and hemp denim. All the garments are made by women artisans in the Middle Atlas Mountains in Morocco. We work on a fair-trade basis with them, we’re developing long-term partnerships, ensuring good working conditions, making advance payments and providing technical assistance and training.”

Helen now manages the design process at Amana – designing the garments, making patterns and samples, sourcing fabrics, trimmings and fastenings and training the artisans in Morocco. Erin manages the day to day running of the business, oversees production in morocco, and does all the marketing.

“We’re really excited about this season we’re we've worked with some great new fabrics, beautiful organic silks, some fantastic suiting fabric made from hemp and tencel and some more innovative fabrics with hemp and flax”, says Helen.


To view the Amana A/W 07 Collection >>