VOZ Apparel Analysis and Recommendations

VOZ, meaning “voice” in Spanish, is a fashion and lifestyle brand that empowers indigenous women and their craft. The company highlights the Mapuche culture of Southern Chile, introducing it to the international market, while still preserving its ancient weaving traditions. Moreover, VOZ provides artisans the opportunity to innovate their craft with education, fair trade wages and local employment.

VOZ prides itself as a luxury, artisan brand that supports indigenous women and creates high-end fashion. VOZ has presented at the world-renown New York Fashion Week, where it can promote its mission and showcase its collections.

See below the video of VOZ's Spring/Summer 2014 Runway Presentation.

VOZ aims to be a sustainable fashion company. In order to do so, it must comply with all 3 pillars of sustainability: economic, environmental and social.

According to VOZ's Code of Conduct, the company relies heavily on the social impact of its efforts. In other words, focusing its impact on the people behind its products. Below you can find VOZ's social commitments outlined in its Code of Conduct. Since VOZ innately integrates fair trade practices, its business model is also affecting the economic pillar.

VOZ: Code of Conduct

VOZ is an ethical fashion Benefit Corporation, meaning it holds itself to the highest social and environmental standards, working every day to make a positive change in the world through fashion. Rooted in the Mapuche tradition of Southern Chile, VOZ empowers indigenous women by providing them with the platform to make a sustainable living, protect their cultural heritage, innovate their ancient art forms and connect to international market.

Social Mission:

RURAL ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT: VOZ’s main mission is to provide economic empowerment to women weavers in Chile and Peru. VOZ provides a means for indigenous women to create their art and ensure that, through their craft, they make a fair and living wage

CULTURAL SENSITIVITY: VOZ respects every aspect of its artisans’ culture, from the production process to symbols and cultural knowledge. For this reason, symbols and other cultural references will only be applied to VOZ products in a way that is respectful and consensually approved by the artisans

TRANSPARENCY: VOZ’s handmade textiles are vertically integrated, providing sustainable incomes to nearly 50 artisans in Chile and Peru. VOZ identifies each step of its weaver supply chain and aims to achieve total traceability for all supplementary materials by 2020

EDUCATION: VOZ supports its artisans before, during and after its training programs to continuously improve their skill sets and, consequently, the product. VOZ’s weaving program provides its artisans with both healthcare and vision tests. Additionally, VOZ helps its artisans open their own bank accounts, which is often a first for many women weavers in indigenous communities, providing them with a sense of financial independence

CONSUMERS: VOZ provides elegant, wearable and artful designs for conscious consumers without compromising style or quality

Ojos Robe- Black, hand-loomed in the south of Chile with 100% baby alpaca and features the traditional Mapuche god's eye symbol of protection

As indicated above, VOZ Apparel has a strong commitment in terms of social sustainability, respecting both the Mapuche people and culture. Although not explicitly certified fair trade, VOZ upholds fair trade practices and guarantees its artisans living wages and healthy working conditions. Below is a glimpse of the survey used to ensure proper factory standards and compliance.

Fair Trade Factory Standards

VOZ is a certified Benefit Corporation. The B Corporation provides a framework and certification for companies who aim to benefit society as well as their shareholders. To further its social and economic commitment, VOZ should also consider becoming a certified member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO). Membership in WFTO provides Fair Trade organisations with credibility through an international guarantee system and provides a network of like-minded people and organizations around the world.

VOZ has room to grow in terms of its environmental sustainability initiatives. I will first outline VOZ's ideal environmental commitments to integrate within the next years, found also in its Code of Conduct. Next, I will detail the specific areas of improvement.

Future Environmental Commitments:

SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS: 85% of VOZ's materials are ethically sourced. These sustainable materials include certified organic cotton, recycled fabrics and dead stock textiles, all of which are made and or assembled using fair trade practices in Chile or Peru. VOZ aims to steadily increase this percentage in the subsequent years as the company continues to grow and generates more revenue

100% organic cotton knit tank in flammé yarn

RECYCLING: VOZ will work towards a circular business model, meaning it will reduce, reuse, and recycle with 100% efficiency by the year 2030. As a small company, VOZ is aware that it needs time to reach this goal. Furthermore, this commitment allows VOZ to compete with other companies aiming to have a completely circular business model by the year 2030

NATURAL RESOURCES: VOZ is committed to using all natural resources responsibly and aims to reduce the amount of water, unnatural chemicals, animal products, etc., whenever possible. This is done through responsible sourcing and will further be implemented with the hiring of a dedicated sustainability manager

ANIMAL WELFARE: VOZ uses wool in nearly 80% of its Fall/Winter designs so the company makes certain that the wool is sourced ethically and responsibly. As such, all of the wool and alpaca yarns are sourced from cruelty-free farms. Additionally, VOZ aims to use only chrome-free leather, natural, vegetable-based dyes, and animal by-products for its leather and suede sourcing by 2030

Sustainable Materials: Right now VOZ uses silk, wool, alpaca and cotton as its main materials. In order to become more ethical, it should consider even more so where and how it sources its materials.

Silk: One alternative to conventional silk is incorporating "ethical" silk into the garments. For ethical silk, this animal-friendly production is carried out after the silk worm has completed its metamorphosis into a moth, and leaves the cocoon. Each cocoon is individually checked before the silk thread is spun. This ensures that no silk worms are killed in the production process. One such wholesale source is Aurora Peace Silks Co.

Ethically Produced Mulberry Silk by The Ethical Silk Company (sourced from Aurora Peace Silks Co.)

VOZ should maintain a strict silk supplier screening process. This can be done using a survey to ensure that the silk is being sourced as ethically as possible. See example below.

100% Silk Crepe de Chine or Cotton/Silk blend material

Recycled Materials: In order to maximize efficiency, VOZ should look into integrating a closed-circular business model. This means using recycled materials whenever possible, in both its supply chain and even its office setting. One recommendation would be for VOZ to become part of pay back recycling programs. For example, Quill Office Supplies offers an Ink & Toner Recycle program, where companies are eligible to earn QuillCash for recycling as many ink and/or toner cartridges as purchased from Quill.com in the past calendar quarter. For every cartridge that a company purchases and recycles, it will earn $1 for Inkjet and $2 laser toner.

Upcycled yarns from VOZ A/W 2013 collection

As can be seen, even small transitions to more sustainable alternatives can not only strengthen your company's environmental initiative, but decrease operating costs as well.

VOZ and other like-minded brands are the pioneers for ethical fashion. Sustainable fashion is still a budding industry, however, given the right direction, luxury fashion can work hand in hand with artisanal tradition and ethical sustainability. Together these facets come together to create unique, beautiful pieces with a message of hope behind them.

Victoria, VOZ weaver

Please send questions regarding this presentation to Rebecca Ruiz

  • rmr2182@columbia.edu
  • www.sew-it-forward.tumblr.com

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