Mayamiko

    My goal with my college education is to eventually launch my own personal brand, Trippy. In my design and business classes I’ve spent a lot of time developing what I want that brand to represent. Though from a business standpoint I find corporations interesting, I do not want to work or run one. I’ve found a real need for sustainability in the fashion industry. Personally I want to produce local, because I think we should try to bring the industry home. However, I just did a service trip in Tanzania. I actually went to a workshop similar to the company I’m focusing on, Mayamiko. Mayamiko started off as a service project, but now uses a “Trade not aid” business model. That basically means that they are trying to create a sustainable way for the local community sell products. Founded in 2013 by contemporary designer Paolo Masperi as a way to fuse modern design with traditional African styles.

Product: For their garments they work within the local community in Malawi. They source their fabrics strait from the market places. Buying interesting fabrics in only enough yardage to make a limited number of pieces. This number usually ranges from 10-15 pieces. They also buy a number of hand dyed fabrics from the Malawi Council for the Handicapped. Mayamiko aims to use 90%- 100% of the fabrics they purchases. They are considered part of the zero waste movement. They up-cycle every piece of scrap fabric that hits the work floor into new and interesting peices. They also focus on creating patterns that use a majority of the space on cutting board. For the Namaste collection, a active wear collection inspired by yoga and african spirit used locally woven cotton. The cotton used is 100% GOTs certified organic cotton. They also sell local crafts on their site. Such as soups made from local materials, by local woman in the villages near their location.

Price: The company uses GBP as the currency. A simple tank top may cost as low as £19.00 GBP, and a dress or jumpsuit may run around the £75.00 GBP price point. They are a fair trade company so they pay their workers a fare price for their art. Shipping is not included in these prices.


Place: The company is a local company, and if you wanted to go into the store you would need to go to Africa (or find a small boutique that buys a small quantity of wholesale). However, they have an online store. So anyone that is aware of the company can easily purchase an order from their finger tips.

Promotion: I think a majority of their promotion comes from the story they built. It creates a word of mouth. This leads to a lot of blog and press attention. That how I found them. They do have really strong social media accounts.  They have a twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr account. I noticed a newsletter signup on their site. I’m not sure if this counts as a promotion, but they also have a Top Picks. I logged into my Facebook and it pulled up the products they thought I’d most likely be interested in buying.