MARLBORO — Kusikuy is hosting a Bolivian party and relaunch fundraiser at its headquarters on Sunday, June 29, from 4 to 8 p.m.
The fair-trade, sustainable fashion brand's event will include Bolivian food such as chunos (freeze-dried potatoes) and api (a Bolivian drink made from corn and quinoa), Bolivian music, an Andean fashion show featuring the company's hand knits.
The festivities mark nine months of significant work and investment in the business, launched in 1996.
In December, founder Tamara Stenn wrote on her blog (tamarastenn.com) that she was attempting to see if the business, which had peaked in sales in 2006 but had been run without promotion or significant attention in the past decade as her children were growing, could be “brushed off and reconfigured to become an income generating, sustainable, social enterprise and well known, sought-out, eco-brand.”
The company has been rebranded with the efforts of a New York City design studio, and on her blog Stenn documents her process in the relaunch.
The evening culminates with a bonfire and the ritual burning of a sacred mesa in a ch'alla - an Andean ceremony for blessings and good luck.
Suggested donation is $20, but all are welcome.
A crowdfunding campaign will soon offer as rewards to funders personalized tours of Bolivia and a chance to meet the company's knitters and herders there. Other rewards include items like blankets, bags, llama dolls, chocolate, and other ethnic foods.
Stenn describes the company as “a pioneer in sustainable fashion” that honors the Alpaca yarn and traditional Bolivian craftsmanship.
She works with a team of New York City designers to design the Kusikuy line and with more than 300 women in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia to create them.
“Each glove takes 12 hours to knit and has over 2,000 stiches,” explained Stenn.
“Kusikuy is one of the last companies in the world still hand knitting with knitting needles,” Stenn said. “Most others companies now use large looms. Needle knitting gives more design and color control as well as high degree of quality.”