I meet her in the church, meeting point in Gondomar and she arrives on time as usually, I know she has a lot of work, although for many of us it is holiday time, she won’t be on holiday until almost end of September. Her kind and generous reception gives me confidence to ask a thousand questions.
After two years time from the beginning of thisadventure, MARÍA ALMAZÁN continues to evolve as a brand; it started with a basic collection that it was almost more an excuse to tell the world that it is not necessary to poison water and life, that another way to produce kinder to the planet and the people who inhabit it, it is possible.
Two years later, María is first of all focused on publicizing green fabrics this fall by her first real man and woman collection, in which the characteristics of her own style, minimalist and clean lines already take place.
Autumn colors: brown, green, blue and coral will be broken with a fluor color sand printing she is investigating and she expects to be ready for the launch moment.
As a novelty for materials compared with the previous collection, the use of hemp and bamboo, both materials ecological easy to grow, because before in her creations were only used linen and cotton; bamboo will be used only in ball and clear colors, because at spinning level bamboo requires many treatments and water usage to achieve the flexibility required by a fabric and darker colors ink is not uniform, although there are very advanced research in Switzerland to solve these problems. As something new in materials too, in winter she will launch man and woman coats with an ecological inner padding.
The bamboo will be needle by Galician women highlighting an ideology which claims the value of craft and women work face to large-scale relocation the textile world is suffering at the moment and that is the beginning of the “unsustainable” problem. All garments are made in Galician workshop and the customer interested in seeing how your garment is made is invited to come and check it.
We visit her orchard and garden and she told me about the “tinturera” (dye plant), a giant plant that grows very fast; “we are trying to get new pinks” María tells me, while I can not avoid cracking a smile, “this is really being in the heart of the matter” I think. For development cooperation issues I can not deal with dyes but this is the dog biting its tail, if researchers cannot profit from their research how they will continue investigating?
María has four physical outlets in Vigo, Ramallosa, Barcelona and Madrid, but its sales are made mainly over internet from their own page and there are several online shops that are interested in her collections but she has not yet signed the partnership contract.
Time has flown by, 5 hours in a breath, it is so interesting to share with her this new understanding of fashion; I leave María with hard work and many projects ahead, as well as the collection of clothes, she is teaching her workshops “Do it yourself”, collaborates with all who show interest in this production and soon she will teach courses where the theory and up-todated resources will be mixed up to answer all the questions that arise to textile industry professionals who want to produce their fashion collections in a sustainable way.
Gema, from SlowFashionSpain
English 
Español 
