Before I departed for São Paulo, I had the pleasure of meeting Marla
Guttman, avid fashionista and creator of Marlandia, an online shop that serves
as the U.S. Distributor of a stylishly vibrant, socially just, environmentally
sustainable and transnationally inspiring fashion brand, Retalhos Cariocas.
Through Marla’s dedication to bringing a U.S. brand awareness to this already
very popular Brazilian brand, I got to fall in love with not only the funky
footwear and kinetic fashion, but the unquestionable integrity behind the story
as well.
Retalhos Cariocas is going to be a story in
several parts because one would not do it justice. The conversation will begin
with Marla and end with what I have learned of Silvinha Oliveira, the chic
and inspiring light force behind this maverick of a label. So here, parte um,
começa…
Who
is Marla Guttman?
(Marla, rocking Retalhos Cariocas' Cano Longo sandals.
Photo Cred: Guest of a Guest)
Since her undergraduate career, Marla Guttman has been not only an avid fashion consumer but an avid student of social and economic justice as well, vacillating between non profit and for profit organizations, traveling around the country and Hispanohablante hemisphere. Nonetheless, while enjoying work and life between her undergraduate and law school tenures, she met some Brazilian musicians in one of New York’s many music spots and decided…chose...told the universe rather: “I want to learn Portuguese.” And the following summer, she landed a legal gig in Rio, where at a mutual friend’s party, she met the magnetic women of Retalhos Cariocas…and the rest is history.
After meeting them, checking out their style,
and learning the essence of their mission, Marla made it her mission to help
them...help the world.
Marla therefore used her background in business
and law, amassed from her professional experiences and law school, to create the online shop, Marlandia, which is bringing the high contrast, super cute, and
energetic footwear of Retalhos Cariocas to the United States.
(Checking out some new styles now here in NYC, while having tea with Marla)
Who
is Retalhos Cariocas?
Retalhos Cariocas is a fashion brand that
creates one of a kind and limited edition womenswear and footwear created from
recycled fabric, reclaimed materials and surplus fabric, manufactured through a
business structure that hires women seamstresses and designers from the favela of Barreiro do Vasco in Rio de Janeiro. They exemplify to a T what ReciclaGEM-The
Movement is about!
Working alongside the neighboorhood block association (aka. the Associação de Moradores local), Silvinha Oliveira, a stylish woman with a fashion degree, a desire
to bring economic empowerment to her community alongside visually stimulating, honest
fashion, created an organization in 2008 to bring fashion, vibrancy and JOBS to
the favelas, starting with hers. Brazilian favelas have for centuries serve as basins
of economic and social disenfranchisement. Silvinha and the team that she now
has carrying her mission, including Marla in the U.S., have responded by
energizing the cause of social justice on the runway.
What
are the challenges bringing Retalhos Cariocas to New York?
Retalhos Cariocas has a great following in
Rio. Nonetheless, the challenges facing bringing the brand to New York include
taking a local mission and putting it on a global platform in another
locale…Kind of a limerick.
Nonetheless, if we are going to promote
consumption, let it be for community empowering, aesthetically interesting, well made and socially
inspired products. Let it be a vehicle of advocacy and not merely fast fashion.
Retalhos Cariocas I see as another revolutionary
brand to add to the mix of inspiring, global fashion that is explored,
consumed, and loved within the 50 states. Perhaps instead of focusing so much
on local fashion conversations, the “Made in America” movement can be more
hemispherically reflective. For that
in geography and truth is what “America” truly is.
Where
can you learn more?
Check out this new video recently released of their work and meet Silvinha, Luciana M., Luciana A., and the other women behind the brand. Let your eyes feast on the colors and textures and become inspired by how these women not only have supported women in Barreira do Vasco with fashion jobs and emerging models of color throughout the city, but they even traveled across the globe to the African continent to lead a sustainable and fashionable economic empowerment.
So Yes, from Osklen to Retalhos Cariocas,
Brazil is the place to be.
Moda Sustentável, Justiça Social and
Fashion Activism,
T*
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