Blanca Padilla on Ecoalf Capsule, Empowering Women Through Fashion
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As a value-driven brand that has championed sustainability as its mission, Ecoalf is teaming up for the second time with Spanish model Blanca Padilla on a capsule collection that is not only eco-minded, but also dedicated to female empowerment and aptly dropping on International Women’s Day.
“It’s a tribute to women and the collection is called ‘Us’,” Padilla told WWD. “I think clothing is such a huge self-expression [tool] for all of us, I think that women can feel empowered by really listening to how they want to express themselves. I feel like the most important thing is to listen to what you like because a lot of times with trends we’re lost in what others like, but it’s important to know what works for you and really express your essence,” she said.
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The capsule collection dropping today includes a range of basics and more sophisticated pieces all crafted according to eco-friendly principles. According to Padilla, who for her first tie-in with Ecoalf in 2021 delivered basics done sustainably, “the fact that you’re wearing something sustainable doesn’t mean that you have to stay basic.”
The capsule embeds a range of eco-friendly fabrics including recycled cotton, linen harvested in Europe and sustainably sourced viscose and Lyocell worked into 10 wardrobe-building staples including tank tops, T-shirts, overalls, shirtdresses. It also features accessories such as high-top sneakers in two earthy-toned colorways, 100 percent made in Spain, and versatile hats. The entire lineup is naturally dyed using peels of pomegranate and gallnuts waste, or minerals such as lapis lazuli, cinnabar and hematite.
Courtesy of Ecoalf
Padilla said the capsule was developed with an inclusive bent offering wide-ranging sizes and encapsulating values every woman can feel represented by. “It’s not just about plus-size or not, but it’s also about how you feel, how you talk to yourself, the values that you have within yourself,” Padilla said.
“I really wanted to make women feel good in their bodies and with who they are, trying not to change themselves or adapt to society and just keep the real power that comes within them and understand that they have power just how they are,” Padilla said.
Each garment in the capsule comes with a name referencing states of mind and feelings such as trust, conscience, bliss, optimism, serenity, equality, and joy, among others, which the model thinks can empower women.
“These are really good qualities for a woman, that I personally would like to have in my life, it’s about creating a community within us where we don’t destroy each other, but we help each other out and we remember these words as part of our tribe and strength,” Padilla explained.
The model got in touch with Ecoalf in 2020 through a mutual contact and while she was getting more and more interested in sustainable fashion. Having witnessed herself the shift toward sustainability, she believes fashion has “so much more to do, honestly. But I think we’re headed in the right direction.…Urgency is real to start acting for our planet, people are finally starting to understand it a little bit more and I hope they understand their power as consumers,” the model offered, noting that governments, too, should do their part and impose strict regulations on fashion’s manufacturing.
“I think at the end of the day, even with fashion and big designers, the consumer has always an incredible power so I think we have to remember that and also research a little bit what goes behind every product that we buy. I think that people maybe don’t do that enough because it’s scary to learn how things are really produced, but I really hope that we’re headed towards a more conscious planet where we understand the value of things instead of [accepting] mass production,” she noted.
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