Clothes Against Cancer: All For Ramon

All For Ramon is a Latin brand making ethical clothes against cancer. Their story is tragically inspired, but ultimately led to positive results!

By Diane Small

Founded in Los Angeles by two Latina sisters, All For Ramon is a unique fashion brand with a mission.

AFR is absolutely committed to eco-minded craftsmanship, ethical manufacturing, conservation of natural resources, and employee wellness. And it’s all for the planet. Oh, and Ramon, of course!

So, who is this Ramon? He was the brother of the founding sisters. He also worked in fashion, and was proud, strong, and bold. Ramon put the wellness of his employees before his own to make sure they could support their families with fair wages and working conditions. He stood for social justice and was an outspoken supporter of cutting down the waste that is typical of most fashion companies. Ramon stood for all this while maintaining and undying passion for quality and uniqueness when it comes to fashion.

His sisters have carried on his legacy, as I discovered in this exclusive interview with them.

All For Ramon: Clothes Against Cancer

Clothes Against Cancer: All For Ramon

Your brother, to whom you’ve dedicated the brand, died fairly young from cancer. Tell us a bit about how that impacted you.

Cancer. No family or loved one should ever experience it. We lost our beloved older brother to cancer. Our family line has a very long history of cancer, but life did not prepare us for this.

What life did prepare us for was resilience and what to do to continue his legacy. He built a foundation on sustainability, eco-friendly products, eco-friendly developments and a good work environment for his employees. That is what we are continuing to pursue.

His time with us on Earth and his influence on his two younger sisters prepared us for the next chapter.

You’ve said that you’ve witnessed first hand the amount of waste fashion creates. How so?

Americans generate 16 million textile waste in one year, that includes landfill waste, plastic waste and garments. One of the main reasons for this is lack of good product design and lack of circular fashion.

Now, we all know that fashion is not 100%sustainable unless we are
dressed in plants and leaves. But the reality is that fashion can be carefully done with the correct intentions.

Much of today’s fashion is done with poor quality fabrics or overproduction
that causes mistakes in the garment. Overproduction has been the cause of this since the early 90’s. Where marketing was pushing for overconsumption and overproduce is what brands did.

Many of the unsold goods you think are 2nd quality stores like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, but that is not the case. These unsold goods typically end up in landfills that are destroyed by the brand beforehand making it impossible for the garment to have a second life.

From where do you source the fabrics for your brand?

We source our fabrics from local mills close to our factory and from mills that are making the
effort to come up with innovative ways to be less wasteful and more circular. One of our local
vendors is here in LA, which is less than 10 miles away from our offices.

What inspires your style?

Our brand is inspired by colour. Our Mexican heritage inspires our styles, collections and what
colour stories we release. Our Mexican heritage is so rich and bold in color and we are color dye
experts, so let the colours of our collections speak for themselves.

The colours of your fabrics are so pretty. How are they dyed?

All of our garments are dyed in our family factory in LA. We pride ourselves in creating colours with our own hands and we love to be involved in every step of the process. Using innovative dye techniques are leading the way in LA using eco-friendly dyes and processes.

Your parents immigrated from Mexico to the USA. What’s it like leading a Latin brand in the USA today?

Leading a latin brand in the USA is something truly special. Representing our culture gives this brand and customers something to feel connected too. A brand that is made by Latin people with a common goal and empowering the community is truly special.

Who exactly makes your clothes?

We have a wonderful small team in LA of BIPOC creatives that make all our garments from start to finish.

How do you see your brand becoming more sustainable in the future?

I see AFR opening stores where you can pre-order garments in person to make the whole experience truly personable. Less waste and zero overproduction.

I love that idea! Human contact is so important in any retail experience. What is your brand doing to help stop the cancer epidemic?
AFR cannot stop and cure cancer, but what we can do and are doing is bringing awareness.
We know that we are not the only ones that have been affected by cancer, so by sharing our story and showing the butterfly effect of our story will hopefully bring others some inspiration, peace and grief in a positive way.
In addition, we also donate some of our proceeds to a non-profit organisation (Calvin Preston Foundation) that helps underprivileged families battling cancer. AFR goes full circle with giving back to the cancer community and fashion.
Finally, what do you think Ramon would say about the brand?

I think Ramon would say, that he is proud of his two little sisters. That he is amazed by how we continued what he started. I hope to continue to carry his legacy.

To learn more, please click here.

Diane Small
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