Our chosen charity for 2025.
The first region we have chosen to support is Peru. The earliest examples of textiles and weaving came from here in 8000BCE, and so it made sense that the women here would be our debut partners. In order to effectively help, we searched for an organisation already on the ground that was set up to correctly allocate funds to them, without political interference.
With a mission statement that mirrors our own, we’re proud to announce we have partnered with Awamaki for our first ever Textile Collection.
Awamaki is a nonprofit social enterprise dedicated to connecting Andean artisan weavers with global markets. They collaborate with women to back their efforts towards educational and financial independence.
Awamaki was formed in early 2009 to support a cooperative of ten women weavers from Patacancha, a rural Quechua community in the Andes of Peru. Awamaki’s founders, Kennedy Leavens, from the US, and Miguel Galdo, from Peru, had worked together at Awamaki’s predecessor organisation with the weaving cooperative for two years. When the predecessor organisation decided to close its doors, Miguel and Kennedy formed Awamaki to continue their work with the weavers. The organisation grew rapidly to include programs in health and education, as well as other artisan cooperatives and a sustainable tourism program.
Every weaving community is different, and our agreement ensures that any Rebel-backed funding goes directly to the areas that produced the designs we have been given the privilege of purchasing.
Many companies use artwork and design imagery from other countries without acknowledging the creators themselves. We want to set a precedence for how fair practice and collaboration can make a real difference to the lives of artists around the world. We license patterns by paying an upfront fee, then a further £2 from each book/product sold will go back to these women and their families. Should you wish to make a further contribution, you can do so here.
