Ethos Kolekto

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Getting Dressed with Passion Lilie

If you can shop fair, why wouldn’t you?

When brands are taking the time to create safe working spaces, are recruiting artisans who want to put love into their work, and utilize traditional handcrafting techniques to create unique and timeless garments, it makes sense to get on board.

Passion Lilie is a fair trade brand that works hard to design and create beautiful clothing and accessories while also providing gainful employment to artisans in India. This brand is based in New Orleans, where their clothing lines are designed. Once designs have been fine tuned, they are sent to India, where artisans handloom beautiful Ikat fabrics and sew them into beautiful finished products.

They were kind enough to share a few pieces from their new spring wardrobe and we’ve got to say that we’re smitten! We tried out the Aurora Button Top and adore the bright color and the textured look of the fabric. The buttons provide some extra detail and the overall tailoring of the top has great definition. It looks great tucked into jeans or left untucked. We would definitely wear it in every color and pattern it comes in!

The second piece that we got to try is the Lerory Button Dress. The deep navy blue with pops of rust orange Ikat makes this dress a showstopper. It has a similar silhouette to the Aurora Button top, with buttons all down the front, a v-neck, and short sleeves. The simple tie at the waist is definitely a game-changer for this piece though. It can be worn loosely as a flowy caftan, tied tightly for more definition, or even unbuttoned and untied as a cover up. The dress hits at mid-calf, so it works with boots on a chilly spring or fall day, but would also look amazing with bare legs and strappy sandals in the summer.

Both of these pieces, along with all of the other garments at Passion Lilie, are made from 100% cotton, making them more sustainable than the average piece of clothing. Everything is hand-crafted in vetted fair trade facilities where workers receive a livable wage, above the poverty threshold. Workers also have paid leave, vacation leave, can earn overtime pay (usually 2 to 3 times their regular wage), have access to no-to-low interest loans, and work in safe spaces without discrimination.

If fair trade is kind of your thing, you’ve got to check out Passion Lilie! Show them some love on Instagram and comment back here with some of your favorite pieces in their shop!