How a Brand Can Empower Women By Isabel Beaudoin

How a Brand Can Empower Women

By: Isabel Beaudoin

Coterie is defined as, a small group of people with shared interests or tastes, especially one that is

exclusive of other people. Seems to sum up the event held at the Jacobs Javits Center, September

15th through the 17th perfectly. The Coterie tradeshow is a wholesale event for brands to show off their unique product to prospective buyers, who are eager to buy. You can almost smell the competition in

the air; brands fighting for the buyers to place an order. Brands come from all over the world to reel in

new customers and put their brand out there. The layout is broken up into three main floors, with multiple

types of booths. With an easy to navigate the grid-like system, it helps buyers find their way through

hundreds of booths looking for the right brand. For brands to attract buyers some decked out their

booths, others used the traditional setting to focus on their lines. I saw booths from Alice & Olivia,

Vince, La Femme, DL1961, Ted Baker, almost any women’s brand you could think of. This year the

event focused solely on sustainability and renewable resources. The management, UBM Fashion,

partnered with the Conscious Fashion Campaign and the United Nations Office for Partnerships to

spread awareness about the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals. From building green

interactive instagramable fun houses to handing out renewable “Coterie” bags to all the buyers, you

could pick up on the theme.

The reason for my attending was to research the sustainable brand, COCOLILI. The brand originates from Africa inspired by the cultures colors and patterns used in the making of modern and classic silhouettes. With collections offering men, women, kids, and footwear designed for adaptability and flexibility. Luckily, I got to meet and talk to the founder of the brand to ask questions based on what we learned in class. The owner, Furaha Bishota, is a sweet, well-spoken woman who was kind enough to allow me to interview her. The goal of my research was to find out how and why they decided to go sustainable, how they plan to become more sustainable in the future, and what sustainability means to them.

Upon approaching the booth Furaha welcomed me immediately. After introducing myself, and informing her about my assignment she was more than willing to answer my questions. Before we dove in, she ran me through her Spring/ Summer line. As I looked at the bright patterns and colors, I definitely noticed the African culture she was trying to grasp, however, what made it interesting was the modern silhouettes. She used very timeless shapes in her line giving it a very cohesive look. The collection was beautifully created with eye-catching patterns. Luckily, no one stopped in the booth to admire her work so I got to ask all my questions. I immediately got into asking how she remains under the title “Sustainable Brand”. She quickly smiled before answering; she first started her answer by saying “There are various ways to look at sustainability.” She continues by saying she sincerely focuses on the human capital aspect of sustainability. The reason for smiling, in the beginning, was because people are quick to put sustainability and environmental practices together, but tend to forget the human aspect of it. Of course, maintaining the longevity of the environment is drastically important, but the human capital aspect is just as so. I was blown away by how sustainable and honest she was about her brand, it showed she had a true interest and passion for it. It was downright inspiring.

Furaha then reeks of the importance of preserving the culture and local communities in Kenya. To produce her collections she works with small local production houses, who are almost all family owned. Within her brand she employes predominantly women, giving them fair wages and better living. She informs me that in African villages women are not learning the proper skills and knowledge they need to feed into their future, and how she uses her brand to help them. Through the power of her brand, she teaches artisan skills to women in the community. What I loved most was the sense of community she had. She said, “When you empower one woman, you empower a whole community of women.” This resigned with me. She goes in further preaching about women being the backbone of the economy, yet they are the most marginalized. To give back to the community ten percent of COCOLILI’S net sales go to underprivileged girls studying science, mathematics, engineering, and technology in school. Using her brand to further her dreams of empowering young girls and promoting their progress.

Looking to the future she hopes to expand more within the US and further her love for suitability physically. Through the use of environmentally friendly fabrics and production, she hopes to find the right production house and fabric that can give her the best product. She continues to inspire women locally and promote their future success through the power of her brand.

https://cocoliliafrica.com/

@cocoliliafrica

Pictures are taken from COCOLILI Instagram ( @cocoliliafrica ) & Website (https://cocoliliafrica.com/ ).