Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Happy Birthday Zuri!



     Shopping on-line brings the world to our doorsteps, but sometimes I just want to see and touch the fabric up close and to try something on for size.  I was, therefore, very glad to get a notice about an event for Zuri, a company I’ve been following for a while.  Zuri sells fair trade shirts and dresses made from bold East African wax print cottons.  They also sell sturdy sisal totes.  Their classic dress is the versatile tunic/coat/dress shown above, which comes in a great array of patterns. Their brick and mortar store sells other styles in soft cotton weaves.



     I had been unable to get to their pop-up at Union Market in Washington, DC, but I have recently relocated to NYC and their Bleecker Street store was celebrating its one-year anniversary and featuring the jewelry of South African designer Katherine Pichulik.


     The shop was buzzing.  Here’s Katherine on the left handing off one of her great wrapped cord necklaces to a happy customer.


     I actually bought the same Zuri dress pattern Katherine is wearing.  I like the way she has it styled with black pants and top.  It would look good over this black modal jumpsuit by American sustainable clothing manufacturer Amour Vert.

 

     I am somewhere in between a small and a medium usually, and would have fit best in a Zuri medium in any other of the prints, but this one ("cotton candy") had a bit of stretch to it.  The design fits very well and looks good on the wide range of body types women come in. It's also well made and a good, long-lasting, fair-trade bargain at $145.  Plus it has pockets!! Definitely check out the wonderful variety of styles of Pichulik jewelry on their website too.  Gorgeous stuff!

     I, by the way, wore this upcycled T-shirt dress by Saidonia Eco to the event—also ingeniously designed with a back tie to fit many different body types.  Go smart designers!  Go fun stuff! Go sustainable fashion!



     Incidentally, while searching for Zuri on the internet, I found another Chicago-based fair trade company that features items made by East African artisans-- Zuri Collection.  Zuri Collection features simple jewelry, embellished leather handbags and woven baskets and blankets.  Check them out too while you're at it.



1 comment:

  1. Beautiful pieces, and very nice pictures. Thank you for sharing this great article.

    I create unique copper jewelry from copper in animal, western, wildlife, and Native American designs.

    Please keep up the good work.

    Best wishes,

    Jenn

    ReplyDelete