15 Innovative Sustainable Latine Brands & Creatives You NEED to Know
Happy Latine Heritage Month, baddies! While this month might seem oddly placed between two others (from September 15th to October 15th), it kicks off on September 15th to celebrate the independence of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, followed by Mexico on the 16th and Chile on the 17th. Being Latine in the sustainable fashion and media space means bridging the heritage and craftsmanship of our parents and ancestors with the aesthetics of our youth and lived experiences through clothing and creation, both in urban and rural areas of Latin America and the U.S..
As a proud first-gen Latina in sustainable fashion, I’m honored to highlight the incredible designers, creatives, and business owners featured below. These sustainable baddies represent just a fraction of the millions of Latine innovators shaping the future of sustainable fashion, whom we believe you should support all year round.
1. By Fonseca
By Fonseca, a slow fashion brand founded by Mexican-American designer Adriana Fonseca, transforms deadstock fabric into avant-garde, textured silhouettes, with ruffles as their texture of choice and draping as a signature technique.
Valeria Anastasia blurs the lines between swimwear and daywear, creating conscious, made-to-order swim and travel wear that can be worn throughout the seasons and beyond the water. The brand mixes city style with a vacation mentality. All pieces are crafted in a solar-powered studio in Monterrey, Mexico.
Suit of Lights Vintage, founded by Gisel Reggianini, redefines preloved fashion with carefully curated natural fiber pieces, blending ancestral craftsmanship and sustainable style inspired by Reggianini’s Latine heritage.
Frutas Magazine is dedicated to authentically documenting and empowering the Los Angeles Latine community, serving as a love letter to its culture and subcultures while rejecting tokenism in favor of genuine representation. It’s also an homage to the original FRUiTS Magazine.
Valerie Salazar, known online as @vallerinagirl, is a Peruvian-Quechua sustainable style content creator. Through a vibrant, pattern-clashing, and playfully silhoutted personal style, she creates content focused on building a more ethical and sustainable wardrobe.
6. LOTI
Founded by Peruvian-American designer Lottie Bertello, LOTI is an upcycled luxury brand that creates handmade garments from 100% deadstock Peruvian textiles like cotton and alpaca. They blend traditional handicraft with modern design to make clothes that celebrate everyday beauty and sustainability.
7. de María
de María is an ethical accessories brand that collaborates with artisan workshops in Mexico to create timeless, locally-sourced pieces. Working with byproduct leathers, deadstock material, and traditional craftsmanship they bring to life the glamorous and nostalgic aesthetics of “the golden age of Mexican Cinema.”
Laiyonelth Hurtado is an Afro-Colombian sustainable fashion and living creator and activist based between NYC and LA. His creative ethos centers around promoting kindness and empathy in environmentalism, actively advocating for lower consumption, mending, and community organizing
Ana-Maria Calixto is a crochet artist based in Ontario, Canada whose crochet artworks have been showcased by artists like Remi Wolf and SNL’s Sarah Sherman. She uses crochet not only as a vehicle for fun and expressive fashion but also for furniture and accessory upcycling.
10. Sagradesa
Sagradesa is a Colombian-Canadian brand best known for their modular shoe designs and commitment to slow fashion, sustainability, and storytelling. Inspired by nature, they create one-of-a-kind handmade pieces using reclaimed textiles.
11. Georgina Treviño
Georgina Treviño is a visionary jewelry artist from Tijuana now based in San Diego, who transforms discarded materials into extraordinary pieces. Her sustainable designs, which range from repurposed keychains to intricate wearable art, challenge ideas of beauty and accessibility.
12. Banzo
Founded in 2021 by Camila Banzo, Banzo emerged from a desire to translate emotion into tangible beauty. Through deconstructing and upcycling garments from her vintage shop, La Vintaje, and drawing inspiration from her experiences in Mexico City, each uniquely re-crafted piece reflects a deeply personal and artisanal touch.
13. Bridgett Magyar
Bridgett Magyar is an artist, writer, and founder of the curated vintage shop Armoury Vintage. Armoury Vintage is a size-inclusive shop in Brooklyn, New York inspired by Magyar’s Latine roots, her mother's antique shops, and her deep love for sustainability.
14. CRUDA
Cruda, founded by Costa Rican designer Pamela Hernández, creates handcrafted shoes made from upcycled materials. Their chunky shoe designs blend traditional techniques with a commitment to sustainability and artisanal craftsmanship.
Aaaandd…to end on a high note, a self-plug! Hardly Revolutionary is a Substack publication by yours truly, Natasha Lopez. I write about sustainable fashion, my cultural observations, personal musings, and anything that captures my fixations. HR is an ode to both my insignificance and my individuality complex.
Who are your favorite sustainable Latine creatives?