Our Mission

How We Began

FFC began as an innovative effort to fundraise for conservation and grew into a volunteer-run grassroots movement across fashion weeks and private galas globally. In 2020, some events have gone virtual (see FFC’s event calendar).

FFC was founded in 2012 by three women determined to make a positive impact on the world through conservation-inspired couture: Nazanine Afshar (Art Director, British Vogue), Dr. Samantha Zwicker (Wildlife Conservationist, Hoja Nueva) and Ava Holmes (Event Producer), combined their talents and passions to create fashion campaigns that educate consumers on critical conservation efforts, while driving funds to conservation groups.

Our Future

Today, the organization is run by a small core team headquartered in Seattle, under the careful leadership of Laura Choi (project manager at Amazon) and Elle L (musician and conscious fashion influencer) who leads the team in London. Two of the three co-founders now live in the Peruvian Amazon dedicating themselves on the ground for conservation.

FFC’s passionate volunteers have run over a dozen large-scale fashion fundraisers from “Elephantasia,” a LFW campaign collaboration with 24 couture designers to stop elephant poaching, to their bi-annual “Rainforest Gala” in Seattle, and most recently the HOPE Gala, raising over one million pounds for a conservation award through Whitley Fund for Nature (U.K.).

In 2019, FFC launched an artisan training and empowerment program, supporting indigenous talent passed down through generations, in having a presence on the global stage (read more below). Projects are currently based in the Amazon with several designs available for purchase to fund the program under SHOP FFC ARTISAN.

How do our Artisans Benefit?

• Cultural and ecological knowledge sharing. Individuals and retailers supporting artisan economies perpetuate and protect cultural and ecological knowledge that is passed down through generations of women artisans in the process of creating artisan goods.

• Community individuality and independence. Women in the Yine Tribe speak of their desire and determination to keep products uniquely Yine. She does not want to conform to changes as requested by retailers or clients if it will sacrifice cultural identity. When this is the case, retailers and individuals can be assured that they are buying something uniquely authentic to its respective culture and also respectful to the artist who hand crafted it.

• Feminine empowerment. Not only do artisan economies make women more powerful stakeholders in the development of their culture, but it often also allows them to dictate the future of their economy. In conversation with an artisan we learned that men go out of their way to support women when artisan economies are successful. During the tourist season when Yine crafts are selling well and providing the community with a significant portion of its income, men actually substitute their resource-intensive activities (like logging, forestry) with work that supports the women’s crafts. In fact, during the tourist season men will even stop logging to gather and transport materials to women so that they can produce crafts more efficiently.

• Diversifying economies and generating stability for communities. In some communities, economic activities like logging and mining have historically led to civil conflicts. Such conflicts prevent a steady flow of tourists from purchasing artisan crafts. Buyers supporting the artisan center put food and supplies directly into the hands of those in need.

• Protection of the natural environment. Economic investment in artisans almost directly replace economic investment in resource-intensive industries. By supporting women making bags, bracelets, etc, buyers enable economic opportunities that allow communities to be less dependent on logging, forestry, mining, or intensive farming.

• Use of natural materials. Every artisan piece that these woman make features 90%-100% natural materials from tree bark, shrubs, seeds, to bugs and berries for dyes. Since some communities lack access to natural materials in sufficient quantity they will purchase from neighboring ones, thereby constituting cross-cultural engagement and knowledge sharing.

• Quality of products, skill of artisans. Many of the artisans speak of their learned skills from a very young age and specify the amount of time they have spent honing their skills over the course of their lifetimes.

• Supporting smaller, local communities that lack ability to participate in larger governmental programs. One primary theme revealed by both Yine and Infierno community members was a frustration and inability to participate in larger, federal programs that are meant to support artisan communities. Fashion for Conservation is particularly invested in enabling their participation by first bringing their products stateside.

• Inspiring motivating work. In addition to generational transfer of traditional and ecological knowledge, women of the Mashko Yine Tribe talked about how the work improved their quality of life, kept their minds and hands sharp, and was more meaningful and motivating to them than other forms of economic activity.

• Perpetuating craft-making and economies that are deeply inspired by nature. All artists talked about their appreciation for specific animals, plants, and natural systems. Much of this appreciation is reflected in the design and patterns of their work.

• Prevents unlawful and poorly-intentioned in-habitation of indigenous communities. One particularly powerful point is the preservation of communities. Artists having opportunities to sell products elsewhere preserves their community from being inhabited by outsiders. In interviews with Infierno artisans, they alluded to the negative impacts that tourists and others might impose on their community and their environment when they come to buy products. Sharing these artisan products through Fashion for Conservation preserves the sanctity of indigenous communities and helps assuage fears community members have about outsiders’ ill intentions.

• Promoting deeply human, deeply connected design processes. Some women talked thoroughly about their processes for creating art, discussing inspiration and relaxation techniques to the extent of “almost as if [they were] sleeping”, and how this program “brings more peace.” Each artist engages in the artistic process partly as their part of realizing humanity and maintaining a purity that is inherent in artisan economies.

• Artisan economies provide economic opportunities for people who are disabled or in poor health. An elder gentleman artisan in Infierno spoke of how he was not in good health and that artisan work offered him a way to still actively contribute to the community’s economy, even though he was physically unable to participate in logging and farming activities that are usually designated for men in the community. An artisan economy provides a second chance for community members who may too ill or physically incapable of participating in traditional economic activities.