Carcel: Things Connected by Peruvian Female Prisoners

IN RUBRIC "NEW MARK" we present young designers and tell them where and why to buy their things. Our heroine this week is designer Veronica De Soza from Copenhagen. Together with the team, she makes concise, but not boring clothes under the brand of Carcel, about which they write both i-D and Independent - and not only because of her successful design.

"My name is Gloria, I'm 37 years old, I'm from Ayacucho. I have three daughters and a husband. I've been here for five years and three months. Condemned for selling drugs. Yes, I committed a crime, but only because I was in desperate condition - there was only one thing left for me, "- the stories of female prisoners of Peru are incredibly similar. More than 60% of them go to jail for drug trafficking. A resident of Copenhagen, Veronica De Soza, decided to help those in need, such as Gloria. She founded the brand Carcel, which began to cooperate with the Peruvian National Prison System; all the items of the first collection are made by women from the prison in Cusco.

The required amount for the launch was collected on Kickstarter - about 40 thousand pounds. Together with a team of like-minded people, De Soza posted an ad in April 2016, and by December production began. The power of Carcel is in the transparency of workflows. On the Facebook page, they do not hide the fact that the employees of the office in Copenhagen are still working for free, with enthusiasm, noting that "unfortunately, this is a necessary measure for a startup." Women in Peru are paid $ 15 for each item — a day they can bind two or three. Thus, they earn three times the subsistence minimum in their country. One-third of Carcel's revenues go to investments — training and new equipment, a third to the cost of things, which contains materials, salary and logistics, and another third to business development — design, marketing, and so on.

Gloria says that prisoners are proud that people around the world will carry things made by their hands - in addition to money, participation in something big is important. The name of every woman, if she does not hide it, is embroidered on the model she made. “People should buy clothes because they like them, and not out of pity for those who are behind bars,” says Gloria in an interview with the Independent. This is an important thought - the only way such projects can survive and develop; All things Carcel distinguish elegant silhouettes and simplicity.

Gloria’s team was looking for a place to produce all over the world - the materials were very important to them: “In Peru, there is an amazing tradition of working with alpaca wool. To do something worthwhile, you need to respect the resources.” It is already known that the next collection will be devoted to silk, and women from prisons in Thailand and India will work with it. In the official blog of the brand, you can follow the stages of work almost live.

We decided to start with the women's prison in Cuzco, high in the Andes, from the place where alpaca originates from. Before our offer, women worked six to eight hours a day, but the problem was that their products were not sold. Many had extensive experience with this material, which was sometimes passed down from generation to generation. Most of these women have children. It’s like an endless cycle of poverty, so the prison system should encourage people to change and provide opportunities for that.