A dream done true


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(Foto : Milagros Rocío Neyra Rodríguez)

Mercery and Solidarity in the international fashion


How to associate the fair commerce and the exigencies of the fashion world? It sounds utopian, but not for Mathieu and Aurelyen, the two young French who connected to the Fundación Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia (The Foundation of our Mercery Lady), catholic institution from Lima. The two enterprising – the first one graduated in social commerce, the second one in plastic arts, who became the official fashion designer of the brand- they went into the adventure to create The Mercery Haute Couture Cabin, situated in the 45 km. of the Panamericana Norte road, in the capital city. MISERICORDIA or MERCERY – made in Peru- . A curious name for a brand and meaningful too.
I went to Peru in June in June 2001, for an humanitarian mission, Mathieu remembers.
I visited The Mercery in the poor neighbor Ventanilla, in Lima. And I saw the sport uniforms of the schools‘ve had a particular and moderm style. So He immediately suggested to the Benedictines sisters that it could be possible to export the garments to some international boutiques in order to finance social projects.
Two years later …¡Miracle! The casual apparel was producing thanks to the initiative of the young French, two new young fashion designers Valentine and Valentine, and a group of 20 Peruvian guys from El Zapallal and Ventanilla (poor areas of Lima). – It’s important to remark that the garments are made from the world famous recognized Pima Cotton, which Peru feels proud of being the cradle, and confectionated by people over eighteen.-.
For many reasons of space and administrative aspects, the French team doesn’t work anymore with the sisters. Misericordia is now an independent brand, one part of the profits obtained goes back to the textile workshops and the other part is for the social project. Actually they count with a second textile workshop, in the capital city too, located in the most popular textile commercial area called Gamarra.
The apparel is produced with the objective to generate a fair and supportive commerce as the regulation of the international business, to give right and well paid jobs to the young Peruvians, to contribute to the social and economic Peruvian development and to make aware the North Country costumers. The garments are exported and selled at recognized stores of the world … in London: Bread and Honey, Tokyo: Maiden , Paris : Chez Colette, Germany : Belle Ville, Australia: The Galeries Victoria , Belgium: Prive Joke, Canada: Rien à Cacher, Holland: The factory Junior , Italy: Asapstore, Sweden: Sooda , Swiss: La Boucherie.
Detail: The rudiments of the Project appear on a sticker of each garment: the blue for the serenity, the white for the purity, the sky blue for the hope. Besides we can clearly see catholic and human values messages, written in Spanish and in big letters as: “Los Niños de Jesús” (Jesus’ Children), “ Nuestro Corazón en la Misericordia” (Our Heart in the Mercery), “ La mano de Dios” (The Hand of God), “Solo Dios sabe mi destino” (Only God knows my destiny), “ Agua Bendita para la Familia Colette” (Blessed water to the Colette Family), “Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia “ (Our Lady of The Mercery), “ No más Utopía” (No More Utopian).
A few time ago the famous German fashion designer Bernhard Hillmen created new styles of sport uniforms to the brand Misericordia in order to give the garments –as a present – to the “Madre María Madre Petkovik”, kinder garden school. And just in case it could mean a few, the garments are obtaining its own space at the international tradeshow of textiles as: Who’s Next in Paris.
“With the money gained, we have an educative project in order to build a kinder garden school for the Peruvian children. And coming soon we are going to create a professional diploma of fashion design to the Peruvian guys, with the help of the famous designers Bernhard Willhelm and Stephan Scheiner” – Added Aurelyen for The Tablet.

Milagros Neyra, Lima –The Tablet

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