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BLYDE BENELUX, CREATING A POSITIVE FOOTPRINT WORLDWIDE
We are Blyde Benelux, the first Benelux-based PR agency to receive a B Corp certification. A sustainable PR agency for sustainable brands and social enterprises. From our two locations in Amsterdam and Antwerp, we work for our mission ‘creating a positive footprint worldwide’. To speed up the transition into a sustainable and social economy, we combine our strengths with pioneering impact brands and social enterprises. Call us happy warriors, working from our core values: humour, ambition, team, optimism, and result.
IT CAN BE FASTER, BETTER, MORE AMBITIOUS
Of course. We have developed healthy flight shame, are committed to the wellbeing of people who suffer for myriad reasons, and a wardrobe can be both responsible and beautiful nowadays. Sustainable and social entrepreneurship and consumerism are very timely and important. In his book about climate change, Jelmer Mommers, correspondent Climate and Energy for De Correspondent, asks the valid question “how are we going to explain this?”. This is part of the challenge: to rally and move people into behavioural change, there is need for context, knowledge, and stories.
FUTURE-PROOF ROUTE TO SUCCESS
Based in Amsterdam and Antwerp, we combine forces with sustainable brands and social enterprises who want to efficiently operate the Dutch, Belgian, and/or Benelux-market from one agency.
Blyde Benelux offers a platform for brands and people who aim to speed up the transition to a positive footprint worldwide. With a solid amount of vigour we show that it can and should be different. Sustainable and social ambitions are directive in all of our PR-strategies and concepts; we help companies to focus on what matters most. The SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) form important pillars of action within this process. By aligning our approach with the SDGs, we help organisations have a positive impact on society.
Grotehondstraat 44 ANTWERPEN 2018 Belgium
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Aymara is the result of the love story between a Belgian engineer, Sven Van Gucht, who met Yannina Esquivias, a young Peruvian travel agent, during a sabbatical year and fell in love. Yannina and Sven quit their jobs and started a knitting factory in Peru together with Yannina’s family. In 2007, the knitwear label Aymara was born. The name Aymara refers to a native ethnic group in the Andes of South America.
Concept
The magic of Aymara lies in the combination of Belgian design and Peru’s extraordinary fibers and textile craftmenship. Aymara’s knitwear is produced in our own knitting factory in Arequipa, in the south of Peru, managed by Yannina’s family. Thank’s to our strong relationship with them and their unconditional commitment, this incredible intercontinental project could be achieved. We believe that in today’s world of fast fashion and mass consumption, people are looking for authentic products with a soul. When buying Aymara, you are sure to get longlasting, sustainable products with an extraordinary story.
Design
Excellent natural fibers play a key role and are the starting point of each Aymara design. This is why Aymara chooses to offer pure styles available in a wide colour palette of bright and soft colours. Our designers take into account the fashion trends but at the same time, we make sure that each Aymara product is timeless and longlasting. A lot of attention has been paid for the perfect fitting form and discrete refined details. The kids collection, designed by Yannina has a playful character whereas the women’s collection, designed by Saskia Van Herzeele is very feminine.
Fiber
Peru manufactures some of the world’s finest quality fibers. For our summer collections, Aymara uses Peruvian pima cotton which is considered to be one of the softest and finest cottons in existence. In winter, garments made of precious alpaca blends are always an important part of our collection. Alpaca is a cousin of the llama and is prized for it’s thermal properties, silkiness and durability. Alpaca is a fiber which does not come at the expense of the environment. In today’s world, dominated by artificial materials, alpaca is the natural option. Alpacas graze at elevations of 3500 to 5000 meters in the Peruvian Andes. This precious fibre is used by top designers world wide. Aymara only uses the finest alpaca fibers, called baby alpaca. In our winter collections we also offer garments made of fine merino wool from Argentina.
Production
Aymara’s knitting plant is fully integrated and employs about 60 persons on the pay roll. This assures us to be in complete control of the production process and the quality of the garments. Although the knitting process itself has been industrialized, the production process is labour intensive and still requires a lot of manual operations. A lot of attention is been paid to the linking and finishing processes. Aymara garments are fully fashioned ; this means that the cutting and overlocking process is avoided as much as possible. By doing so, Aymara’s customers are getting a high quality product with one of the finest linking and finishing standards on the market. Turn your Aymara garment inside out and you will see what we mean !
Although most of the collection is produced on industrial knitting machines, each winter season Aymara offers a small theme of hand knit accessories. This enables women to generate an income by hand knitting at their home while taking care of their children. For a lot of these women it would be impossible to work inside a company because of their family situation and the lack of childcare. You can recognize these products by the “Aymara hand knit” hang tag. We are currently investigating how this could be integrated into a wider social project.
Head office & International Sales Aymara bvba Bornem 2880 Belgium
Showroom Aymara Antwerp Kielsevest 70 Antwerpen 2018 Belgium