Karen Walker Eyewear and the Ethical Fashion Initiative are working together to produce pouches for the new Karen Walker Eyewear collection.
The simple, screen-printed pouches will be included with every pair of Karen Walker Eyewear from the Summer 2014 season through all 500 global stockists. In addition, more elaborate and embellished versions, also made by Kenyan artisan groups, will be available to buy separately.
All the designs have been created with the style of craft and handy-work the artisans are most adept at as a starting point.
The new campaign titled Visible, aims to highlight, celebrate and acknowledge by featuring portraits of some of the people who work in and around the Ethical Fashion Initiative set against the landscape that surrounds them.
Shot by Derek Henderson, the people photographed here include machinists, cutters, tailors, production managers and metal workers as well as members of the Maasai group who create the more elaborate beading work.
The Ethical Fashion Initiative’s motto is “Not Charity, Just Work” and their task is to promote sustainable business over aid dependency.
Simone Cipriani of the Ethical Fashion Initiative said of the project, “From the very beginning, the relationship between the Ethical Fashion Initiative and Karen Walker was a very natural connection. Karen is a visionary and she clearly understood who we are and the potential of working in Africa with us. Everything about this project — which brings forward the positivity, dynamism and beauty of Africa — is in line with what we do.”