Beach fashion brands for a sustainable carnival

These three beachwear businesses are located in Ecuador and offer products aligned to slow fashion, using sustainable textile processes. Typically, when making swimsuits, leftover fabric and scraps are considered waste, but these local entrepreneurs have found creative ways to transform them into sustainable, on-trend pieces.

Aneu

The path to being a 100% sustainable and ecological brand is a great process, which little by little has been fulfilled. Aneu Swimwear, an Ecuadorian brand of bikinis made with ethics and conscience. Your co-founder, Liz Borrero She says that what really motivated her was to sell a product in the most correct way possible. “In this case, I realized that the textile industry has a very high waste and pollution. So I began to investigate how I could, if I wanted to dedicate myself to this, improve that aspect or avoid being part of the contamination”.

“My goal is to reach 100% sustainability, which would be to already have recycled fabrics,” he says. Liz, 24 years old. Until then, she and her team have contributed to this cause with the collections that have been launched on the market since 2019.

In his first collection, Aneuwith the residues of the fabrics, proposed scrunchies and reversible bikinis to optimize dual use. “We also added plantable business cards with recycled paper; These are labels that we include in our deliveries, made from this type of paper, which goes through a drying process where we add seeds of all kinds”, he explains.

These seeds come from the province of Santa Elena. “The last ones we implemented are parsley, lavender and pepper. The idea with this label is that the buyer sows it and soaks it constantly, so that in seven days she can have her plant ”. The entrepreneur also thought about the packaging: “They are not covers, but rather cardboard boxes that can be used for other things.”

In the new collection, which is called tropicaliawhose objective is to transport the buyer to a place under the sun, the creator of Aneu tells that together with his co-founder, Favio Cedenothey have already added fabrics that have certified ecological processes, that is, more than 80% of the waste is recycled in the textile production process and water consumption is reduced.

“In the workshop we have the least textile waste that we can have. For this reason, our bikinis are personalized: we put out a collection with stock limited, and after that it is only made to order,” he says. tropicalia offers trendy bikini models, adapted to the style of the brand. “All the shades this season are warm, lively tones.”

Makani

@Makanicollection is a swimwear brand located in Guayaquil. In 2018 they came up with the idea of ​​this business to Adriana Porras Y Giuliana Davila. Both were in Argentina at the time; however, they returned to Ecuador in 2019 to base themselves here.

They currently have a concept store located in Ceibos Center, a physical store where you can find the bikinis. Its pieces are made of fabric based on recycled plastics. Adriana, 30 years old, explains that she has always been concerned about the environment. ”I have taken small actions in my day to day; for example, I take the reusable covers to the supermarkets or, when I go to the beach and see garbage, I pick it up”, she says.

“I was concerned about the waste generated by large factories and workshops. By working with smaller seamstresses and artisans, we had the opportunity to use the scraps that were left over from the production to make the packaging, which are bags made of recycled fabric”, he says. In these bags, customers can store their bathing suits; Or, if they go to the beach, they can take their pieces there, as well as the sunscreen, sunglasses and other beach items that come in this package.

Adriana She is Venezuelan, but has been living in Ecuador for three and a half years. She says that she also uses the scraps to make bandanas and bows that match the bikinis. For this Carnival, Makani has in its offer bikinis with textured fabrics and other previous collections that are still in stock and they can be obtained via Instagram or at your point of sale.

manifesto

Daniela Zea is the founder of manifesto, a brand that respects craftsmanship, that follows slow fashion and pays fair prices to its manufacturers. for five years, manifesto sells bikinis; But, just two and a half years ago, Daniela he decided to stop viewing it as a hobby and turn it into a serious business. This brand, inspired by Ecuador, has the motto “Conscious Bikinis”.

“Fashion in the future is going to be sustainable. It is a trend that has been coming for a long time. Our bikinis are made from recycled plastic fabric. I even wanted to make the fabrics myself, but the process is complicated and I couldn’t find it here; until technology advanced and I found providers that were already offering this,” he says. Danielawho at that time decided to venture into this fashionable area.

The 29-year-old from Guayaquil studied an intensive course in fashion design. “I also work with fabrics that have sustainable processes with water, because to make the fabric you have to use water; So, in our case we have machines that have technology that makes the water recycle again, and thus we don’t take more water from the environment”, she adds.

Among the applicable accessories of the bikinis, manifesto use those made with natural materials, for example: bamboo or tagua rings. The packaging, in the form of a box, is made with material kraftthus contributing to the biodegradable, renewable and recyclable aspect of the company.

manifesto offers in its latest collection bikinis inspired by the nature of the country. These have handmade prints that stand out as being vibrant and tropical. “Transformed into the DNA of my brand, which is a bit more like pop”, he mentions Daniela. These bikinis are sold for prices starting at $65. (AND)