Traces of the World
Traces of the World (Traces) is an online platform for contemporary women with sustainable and ethical values. It is a business model of direct sales to the consumer that empowers women artisans and designers by buying the conscious consumer.
For Traces, women play a fundamental role. Traces facilitates the empowerment of women through the cultivation of entrepreneurship and creativity, of indigenous crafts and small designers, who together form a community of creators. The platform facilitates contact with the final consumer who, through their conscious decision to purchase, impacts on the local and global well-being of the women’s community, and thus changes evolve in the social, environmental, economic and cultural dimensions.
YouTooday knows very well Katerine Villaverde, founder of Traces. She projects herself and her life purpose through her project. Katerine works hand in hand with the indigenous women of Mexico, learning from them and empowering them so that their fabrics with centuries-old wisdom can adapt to the tastes of today’s women.
Why does Traces exist?
”It all started when a song of the soul was heard, it is a song that lives in the hearts of women, and speaks the words of weaving a new future using the threads of beauty that honour humans and the earth. Traces aim to be an international women community of indigenous artisans and young designers that co create together a collection of contemporary women clothes with traces of traditions, with traces of women souls, with traces of sacredly and with traces of the world.”
by Katerine Villaverde, Founder of Traces of the World
What are their work areas?
Traces collaborates in Chiapas with 18 different communities. Each community with its precise and recognizable knitting technique. With all these communities they have innovated and co-created with the artisan weavers a piece for the Traces’ collection.
Social Traces believes that women are agents of change. The platform connects women from different parts of the world to exchange values. Worldwide, 95% of indigenous women artisans are women. The conscious consumer has the opportunity to connect, support and empower these women through the decision of their purchase.
Traces collaborates with small contemporary designers, who create cultural value through their designs while conforming to ethical and sustainable standards. Offering more products from small designers and producers helps them to offer a collection of products unique to their final consumers.
Environment Traces works towards a supply and production chain that reduces the negative impact. Its craftsmen work with the most sustainable technique that exists of weaving, the ancestral loom of waist.
Traces creates a community with a shared vision by collaborating with existing small brands and by unifying small producers on the facilitating platform. This shared purpose facilitates maintaining the standards and values that are necessary to ensure environmental issues.
Culture Traces seeks the local heritage that is latent, waiting to be discovered and taken to the global market. Their vision is the cultural diversity of the communities resulting in creating unique designs made from traditional and innovative processes. With respect to the development of products, practices and models of organization based on indigenous and technical traditions, hoping to sustain cultures and revitalize traditions.
Finally, Traces creates a balance of the needs of the market and the cultural heritage, while creating sustainable and ethical labor relations.
Economic The strength behind its platform is collaboration: a way of creating value, in social and economic dimensions. With its stakeholders and global community, Traces specializes in developing relationships that complement and amplify its core specialty, creating emerging effects. This collaborative network is dynamic with a purpose that has the agility to adapt legally and operationally, as required by the growth of the network of collaborators. This is the best way to leverage existing resources and create new values.
What does YouTooday do for Traces?
YouTooday produced the promotional video of Traces. Our goal was to capture the soul of its founder, its sensitivity and human values that make her so special. Through the video we want to show you how that sensitivity and values are transmitted into Traces.
We interviewed Katerine: We sat down in front of her, and we flowed to capture that essence and enormous passion of Kate towards her project. She is Traces and Traces is her.
Below you can see the video and the wonderful work of Kate that empowers women artisans and gives today’s women those values so rich through those fabrics worked with wisdom, culture, experience and love.
We vibrated with the heart and voice of Kate, with her enthusiasm and with the passion to create something that will change the way we buy and dress, which will make us thankful that this land and these women preserve those centennial traditions that make us return to our origin and remember our values.