Mexican fashion designer Ximena Corcuera talks about her vision of sustainability and labor dignity within this industry and shares her contribution through her own brand.

Light and cheerful, with her hair down and glasses on, with projects and creations always on her mind, Ximena Corcuera welcomes us in her apartment with a big smile and her playful gaze. While he invites us to a delicious coffee, I am amazed to know that, at such a young age, the same has triumphed with his designs, being selected by the Mexican Embassy to represent the country in the event “Thai Silk Fashion Week”, (Thailand, 2019 ), or who has worked with artists, creatives, brands and international projects such as Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Swarovsky, Disney Consumer Products LATAM, Julius Horsthuis and Fablab Mex.

Xime is a designer, visual artist, and entrepreneur catching the eye with her attractive designs, contributions as a speaker and lecturer on sustainable fashion, and her video courses on various international platforms such as Domestika. Excited and passionate, Ella Xime tells us how, through knowing the world of Fashion Design, she found a language of expression. “I found a communication channel in fashion. My search was always like this, to put together concepts, clothes became my canvas”, she comments.

And it is that, although fashion is a channel to communicate, Ximena proposes precisely, through her brand -homónima-, a reason for the connection. “I have always seen fashion as a channel to share feelings and experiences; a bridge between dress and individuality; with a personal story, message or movement. In this sense, the contribution of my (homonymous) brand is promoting a humanized vision of fashion through art and culture, to create garments with a meaning, not as an ornament, but as a connection of yourself towards the outside ” she adds.

Sustainability and slow fashion

Talking about one topic and another, we delve into sustainability and its possibility of application in Mexico.

“Sometimes, we stop valuing our own by looking abroad; we do not value all the wealth that we have in our country in terms of techniques and cultural heritage. Techniques that, by their very principles, the handmade, the preservation of culture, the integration of processes of natural origin, etc., have a link that we can easily relate to sustainability. In Mexico, for example, the possibility of creating projects linked to Slow Fashion is very viable.”
Hearing the word slow fashion, as if it were ping pong, I send back a question about how she defines this concept. “Slow Fashion proposes a slowdown of the industry through various processes that range from opting for local, small, or even custom production. There is no vision of massification but the value of the unique piece. You can get involved with processes by hand or work with artisan communities. Slow fashion is not the only way; it is part of a portfolio of options. However, if it is a path that offers many advantages, among them the possibility of creating or consuming products with transparent processes where you know the history of the brand, the processes involved and who is behind it.”

Labor Dignity in the Fashion Industry

Ximena shares his vision of the need for a new work culture.
The fashion industry is an industry built by people for people, and it is necessary to start shifting job prospects to fair and horizontal systems. “If you are going to work with artisans, we have to change the relationship that we have created under the concept of“ employee and employer ”, to start working under a collaborative vision; give it its place and respect both financially and in credit and understand that working with artisan communities has its own rules. We should generate systems and tools that allow them to strengthen their internal structures to grow independently and enhance the wealth of their businesses. On the other hand, those of us who work as designers and creatives have the option of modifying our work structures towards a holistic and collaborative vision, opening new paths from creation and from a business vision. Collaborating with others allows us to generate new starting points to enrich and rethink the future of the industry from a just and empathetic basis “

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