Ethical Fashion in the Midst of a Pandemic: An Interview With Elegantees
While the increasing threat of COVID-19 has made its way around the globe, most people are trying to figure out how to prepare their families to stay-at-home and eliminate all unessential travel. For Katie Martinez, founder of Elegantees, she’s been thinking about that while also juggling how to navigate running an ethical businesses in the wake of a pandemic.
“I feel like once I heard it in the news, it took me a couple weeks to figure out what to do and that’s really awkward for me,” she shared. “It’s the first time it’s happened to me, ever.”
Elegantees, the brand behind our gorgeous line of Dressember dresses, operates on the restorative mission of providing meaningful work for survivors of sex trafficking in Nepal. The journey of an Elegantees piece starts as fabric ethically and sustainably sourced from India and then crafted in a sewing center in Nepal before it makes its way to your door. A purchase you made from your laptop, directly impacts someone’s life for good and crates meaningful work for employees at Elegantees.
But this process has been impacted by the complications of shut downs and public safety measures that has resulted in creative problem solving and a need more than ever for community.
Nepal and India have both taken aggressive measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 and like many other places, are taking it week-by-week. Nepal currently has 16 reported cases of COVID-19 and with current closures set until April 27, many are left without their regular means of work. These closures affect the sewing center in Nepal leaving the team behind Elegantees unable to continue business as usual.
“They have been on a lockdown and it’s been holding up all our orders and all of our seamstresses have been unable to work” Katie shares.
While Zoom may be the answer for many fields, the countries closures and freeze on flights from Nepal leave seamstresses unable to work. So Elegantees took a creative approach.
“We did want to find a way to help our seamstresses because they are not able to work. I wanted to make sure they could get some kind of payment to take care of regular expenses.”
Elegantees pushed a two day fundraiser to create a stimulus package for their employees during this time. $2,000 came in from donations alone and then $6,000 of inventory was sold and the funds from that are going directly to the seamstresses in Nepal. This, paired with a large donation, have set up the sewing center employees to be taken care of for 1-2 months (or three if needed) during country closures.
While every purchase towards ethical businesses is significant year-round, in these uncertain times of COVID-19, they mean more than ever.
“All of our customers are seriously amazing. They are asking how they are doing in Nepal,” Katie said. “One of the great things I love about running an ethical business is customers care so much more about the people behind the products.”
In a season where resources look different than normal, Elegantees’ stimulus package approach showcases how creative problem solving and community can really come together to make a meaningful difference. It took Katie a moment to figure out how to tackle this problem from afar and she sat in reflection before knowing what to do next.
“I think that what I was doing in most of that time was praying and I think once I got that nudge ‘Katie, we need to send money to Nepal so we can help the women right now,’ that really urged me to jump and roll with the stimulus package.”
It can be frustrating to be confined to our homes during this time, but the work of Elegantees paints a story of hope that coming together as a community is possible, even when we cannot come together in person.
So what can you do from home?
• Support Elegantees with your purchase! Use code DRESSEMBER for 20% off your purchase!
• If you can’t financially support fair trade brands at this time, you can still make a difference! Every share can be powerful for companies as well.
• Shop our Dressember Marketplace for Elegantees dresses that are up to 65% off! Funds from our site will benefit COVID-19 Relief efforts.
About the Author
Sara Kernan is originally from Alaska and is currently calling metro Detroit home with her husband and pup. She is passionate about building people up & building community. As a classic enneagram 2, she is happiest spending time with good friends and eating good food. She’s a writer, advocate, and friend, and is working on just being where her feet are.