ABSTRACT
In a time of social, economic, environmental, and climate change, the luxury fiber apparel company Peruvian Connection has been ahead of the responsible fashion curve, offering slow fashion since its founding in 1976. Disrupting the cycle of fast fashion with a collaborative business model and fair-trade practices that offer craftsmanship and environmental sustainability, Peruvian Connection garments do not end up in landfills, are handed down generationally, and valued in the vintage market. The brand’s ideological positions resonate with the decolonial movement in fashion. Customers admire the brand’s commitment to authenticity, artisan traditions, renewable resources practices, and business model that supports Peruvian cottage businesses, textile and clothing industries, and organizations that assist Indigenous women and children. Ecologically grown Peruvian Pima cotton and Alpaca fibers and the ancient textile crafts of the Andes continue to be the basis of the woman-owned company, co-founded by CEO Annie Hurlbut. A cultural anthropologist, Hurlbut supplies cultural context for the brand’s fibers, designs, and motifs, and is sensitive to issues of cultural appropriation, tourism, and Othering. This case study is based on published interviews, content analysis, and bibliographic research. Transdisciplinary, it is informed by theoretical frameworks from a variety of fields.
