Born in Peru
We started NINA following a trip to Peru in 2019. We weren't there with the intention of launching a baby clothes brand - I was doing some work for a girls' rights charity at the time and *pretending* to learn Spanish. We were introduced to somebody working on social & environmental impact projects - he invited us to a BBQ one evening. The chimichurri sauce was delicious; the conversations really interesting. People were working on projects to do with algae & alpaca & other natural resources local to Peru. Peruvian Pima cotton it turned out was a pretty special type of cotton - but the local industry was dwindling due to fast fashion demanding cheaper types of cotton.
The conversation of sustainability
At the same time we were reading more and more in the press about how damaging the fashion industry is. Burberry was under the spotlight for burning excess clothing stock, whilst the 'Who Made My Clothes' campaign was gaining momentum, and the industry still reeling from the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013. Fast fashion was speeding up. We were reading about how long and convoluted fashion supply chains were - and how injustices festered within them. Peru was a big manufacturer of clothes and grower of Peruvian Pima cotton. So here we were at the start of those supply chains.
We met with a cotton cooperative, a Professor of Agriculture, and manufacturers. A little naïve, but feeling like our eyes had been opened. Back in the UK, we didn't think twice before buying clothes. We had no idea about the many many steps that came before. We couldn't get our heads around the fact that cotton clothes start as a crop in a field. And we definitely didn't acknowledge that many many people were involved in making the clothes we buy. We set out to better connect consumers with where and how their clothes are made.
Out with the babyish vibe
At the same time, we were struck by an overwhelming 'babyish' vibe in the baby clothes category, especially on the high street. Buying gifts for friends and colleagues who were having babies at the time, we realised that shopping for baby clothes was a little frustrating - it was dominated by these 'babyish' designs.
Think lots of pinks and blues, along with cutesy animals, and a bucket load of traditional. But it's parents and their friends and family who are buying the clothes and maxing out their phone storage with photos of beautiful babies. Where were the stylish baby clothes & accessories that we could also enjoy as adults?
Growing the NINA collections
We started with the baby clothes made from organic Peruvian Pima cotton. It's all about the quality and the feel. Soft as a cloud! Stylishly simple in a small range of timeless colours. From cotton grown along the coast of Peru and then made into clothes in a factory in Lima (with a few steps in between like cleaning the cotton at the ginning factory). The business is run by a family who donate breakfasts for poorer children and struggling families in a place called Cajamarca.
The muslins came later. Some designed by artists, others licensed from the V&A archives from forever popular designers like William Morris & C F A Voysey. Something bold and eye-catching in the baby world, with real artistic designs from artists. Along the way we discovered that some clothes companies simply choose their clothes designs from a catalogue of hundreds of rapidly churned out designs. We wanted something more artistic and more thoughtful than this.
We're excited to grow these NINA collections and to continue the journey!
