About
As I travel most of the year, it's best to keep in touch at info@lasninastextiles.com, or follow me on Instagram where you can have a ringside seat alongside me and my adventures.
— Zara Elwood
Our Quest
Twenty-six years ago, after two decades of working in the fashion industry in Australia and internationally, I created Las Niñas Textiles.
My aim: To bring ethical and sustainable fashion to the world.
Joy
Joy was what inspired me to embark on adventures around the world, looking for unique and incredible items to share with those craving escape from the ordinary clothing one is told will be the “look” you will want this season.
Natural Fibres
I knew I needed natural fibres next to my skin — and next to everybody’s skin. In the 1990s, I was practising Oki-do Yoga, and my teacher stressed that plastic/polyester did not allow the body to breathe and the energy to flow. He used to say, “Would you wear a plastic bag?” This was the time when I started to audit the fibres in my wardrobe more extensively and focus on their impact on the environment.
Sustainability
I instinctively knew that synthetic fibers were not only bad for us, they are bad for the Earth, causing irreparable harm, dirtying our air, destroying our waterways and wildlife with microfibres. I love the Earth and strive to protect it. I’ve always sought out clothing that is made humanely, without poisons, without mass production. I’ve sought out textiles and garments made by real people, artisans in their homes and workshops, at a comfortable pace, using traditional techniques. Durability is another quality I look for — the disposable consumer mindset is destroying the Earth. Las Niñas Textiles clothing will last a long, long time, even if you find yourself wearing it constantly, as so often happens, these items just get better with age.
Originality
Fast fashion wants to tell you what to wear. You’re invited to accessorise a carbon copy of something profitable. Your originality never truly gets a chance to shine. With Las Niñas Textiles, I’ve found one-of-a-kind pieces that will speak to you — even grab you: “We were made for each other!” Pieces that are you. Handcrafted clothing means what you’re wearing will always be unique. And, like a collection of paintings — like the works of art these garments are — you’ll find yourself drawn to the pieces that touch you.
Depth
Quality handmade clothing resonates. It means something. When an artisan spends weeks weaving you a kaftan, she puts not only all her skill and attention into the piece, she integrates the very fabric of her day and life into it — and, she weaves in the cultural themes and motifs and stories of a heritage going back millennia.
Colour
Colour is vital. Colour has always been my inspiration. This started early — way before the 1980s and my first rag trade position. In a world of black and grey, who will dare to come alive — to allow others to adore your clothing and ask you, “Where did you get it from?”
Beauty
With Las Niñas Textiles, I strive to share the feeling of being transformed by the beauty of the clothes we wear. We are beautiful when we’re wearing clothes that we love. Las Niñas Textiles’ clothes are beautiful, they make you feel beautiful, they feel beautiful on your skin, they spread beauty in the world. When Nat Kelly says she is basically living in a couple of Las Niñas Textiles dresses, this is why. They caress you. You feel natural, and kind to the Earth. You feel like a queen.
Authenticity
When I hit the road, I went looking for real clothes. And I found, as I traveled in search of authenticity, that things got very, very real.
My quest brought me to indigenous people, mostly women, in their remote villages, struggling to keep the traditional clothing methods alive.
Artisans labouring week after week, hand-weaving masterpieces of textiles on backstrap looms, hand-embroidering glorious wearable artworks, hand-stitching, crocheting, smocking and tatting. Each stitch created like they are painting with their threads, weaving their stories into each garment.
Ethical Enterprise
By bringing these artisans’ creations to people who adore them — by working hard to connect with people who recognize their value — I am able to help the artisans preserve the ancient crafts, while I help them make a living.
Beyond that, I’m able to use my decades of fashion expertise and experience to help the artisans create new takes on the ancient styles, offering a unique and thrilling blend of old and new.
I don’t do this from an office somewhere. For 26 years, I’ve been walking the talk, trekking from village to village and country to country in search of colour and beauty.
It's my profound pleasure to be the instrument of delivering these unparalleled pieces to the customers of Las Niñas Textiles — those who appreciate and value and luxuriate in the unabashed quality, the attention and love infused into these garments and textiles.
Love
Across the years, I’ve become immersed in the lives of so many of the artisans I work with — have watched their families grow and change, have helped them achieve some of their dreams and have shared some of their sorrows, have provided sustenance and learned so much. Have grown to love.
Bringing slow fashion to a fast world is a hard road, but so worth it when I share my finds and creations with happy people — and when my artisans see that they can be supported without turning to polyester and machine work, that the world does value what they do, and that the love they pour into each item lives on in the love our customers feel for their creations, knowing they are wearing a beautiful, ethical, one-of-a-kind work of art.