In this episode, part of our monthly brand feature series, we learn about VOZ, a New York City based brand that collaborates with and celebrates the Mapuche tribe, based in Chile.   

Joshua Williams: Hello Sass, who are we featuring this month? 

Sass Brown: We're talking about VOZ. 

Joshua Williams: Ah, VOZ. They're based in New York City, but do a lot of their work in Chile. Can you tell us a little bit about them? 

Sass Brown: Absolutely. They're an amazing brand. They were founded back in 2012 by Jasmine Aarons. And their mission is really to honor and empower artisans, to support them economically and culturally by showcasing their traditions of hand weaving and hand dying. So the collection is built around core items that are handwoven by the Mapuche and hand-dyed; vegetable-dyed through the long tradition of hand weaving and artisanship with cotton and with alpaca from the region.

Joshua Williams: And can you tell us a little about the Mapuche people because that's quite unique, their story, and why she's chosen to work with this particular group? 

Sass Brown: For sure. Well then the Mapuche are actually the largest indigenous group in South America. And they were never conquered by the Spanish. And they have a very long heritage of working with natural fibers, local materials, both animal and vegetable and hand weaving, hand spinning the product. So, they have a very long tradition of it. Like many indigenous groups, there's stories and meanings behind the patterns and the symbolism that's embedded within the things that they weave. It's very graphic visually. Often, it's black on a off-white or a beige base, but it can be and other colors. And if you look at Jasmine's work, she often incorporates all sorts of different shapes. But usually very graphic patterning on a hand-woven base. 

Joshua Williams: So, there's a lot of discussion these days around appropriation and celebration of culture. How does Jasmine really approach her work with this indigenous group to ensure that it is celebration?

Sass Brown: Yeah, that's a really important question. And with everything that's been going on, of course, and all of the focus on cultural appropriation. First of all, she doesn't appropriate. She works directly with the artisans. And it's a partnership to the degree that it's a collaborative process.

They have their own familial patterns, their traditions that have been handed down through generations. And those are incorporated into sometimes more contemporary pieces, but still actually fairly traditional in some cases, such as panchos, or wrap some scarves. And it's the hand weaving and the patterning that's really beautiful and individual and specific to the families or the communities that produce the weaving. So, she works directly with them. 

This isn't appropriation. They are accredited in everything she does. She's also a benefit corporation, which means that she has to pay fair wages. Benefit corporation is effectively a triple bottom line incorporation. So, it has to equally favor people and planet to profit. So, it is by default you know politically and economically supportive of the indigenous people from those regions. 

She also works a lot with the Mapuche people, traditionally dispersed in rural regions. And that often means the informal economy, which is quite difficult for bigger brands to work with because they don't fall easily into the processes of a supply chain. So, she spends a lot of time in Chile and works directly with them. 

Joshua Williams: Already, there's so much there for other brands to learn from. But is there anything else that you think that a larger fashion corporation or global brand could learn from this type of collaboration? 

Sass Brown: Well, I think in, in anything that's working with traditional artisanship, a huge component is honoring of who they, all that traditions and what they do. And Jasmine very much does that. 

She actually has a store in New York in Soho where pre COVID, which we're talking over a year ago now, of course she did all sorts of events that were to do with sustainable fashion or gender equality, global culture, ceremonial crafts.  It's a lot of things tied to the traditions and the communities that she work with. It's also a sh where she showcases the work of sympathetic designers, such as Maria Cornejo, for example. And she did a lot of In-person workshops and events there, which she still continues within the digital space, by sharing those oral histories.

And she also does something called VOZ Woman, which is really lovely. Where her brand ambassadors and the people that showcase her work are really inspirational characters in their own right. They're not models purely chosen because of their physical beauty.  They a re brand ambassadors who are making a difference in their own way in some shape or form.

Joshua Williams: So, it really is truly a celebration. And you mentioned here that they have a store in Soho in New York City, but how else can listeners find out more about VOZ and perhaps even purchase something from them? 

Sass Brown: Through their website. They have e-commerce sites there. They showcase all of their work, including the other designers whose work they would normally have in store. They have all of their clothing, accessories as well as jewelry and some home products. And all of that is on the website, which is MadebyVOZ.com. And that's VOZ, V O Z. 

Joshua Williams: Great. Thank you so much, sass. It's always a pleasure to have you on and we look forward to next month. 

Sass Brown: Happy to share, take care.