Every Chicha jumper has a lot of hands behind it.
Long before it reaches a child here in New Zealand, it begins in Peru with our artisan partner Analy and her team of skilled knitters.
They're not simply the people who make our designs. They're part of the process that brings them to life.
And I think you should know a little about them.
A relationship, not just a production line
When I come up with an idea for a new Chicha jumper, I don't send off a finished design to a factory and wait for boxes to arrive.
I work with Analy.
She works closely with groups of knitters organised into small knitting cooperatives, and together they turn my ideas into something that can actually be made.
The first step is usually a sample.
Analy and her knitters work out the construction, the details and what it will take to produce. Then we go backwards and forwards, looking at colours, fit, embroidery and all the little details that make a Chicha jumper feel like Chicha.
Sometimes things change.
Sometimes an idea works beautifully.
Sometimes the people actually making the garment know there's a better way to do it.
That collaboration is an important part of our process.
Work that fits around life
One of the things I value about the way our knitting partners work is the flexibility it gives the people involved.
The knitters are able to set their own schedules and balance their work with other responsibilities, including caring for their families. Many can work from home or alongside other knitters rather than having to fit their lives around a conventional factory shift.
The cooperatives provide reliable paid work while allowing that flexibility.
As Chicha grows, I want that relationship to grow with us.
One of our goals is to create more regular work throughout the year by producing collections more frequently and staggering our deliveries, rather than concentrating everything into one short production period.
For me, growing Chicha responsibly means thinking about the people making our clothes as well as the people wearing them.
How a Chicha jumper is actually made
Our jumpers combine different knitting techniques.
Some of the construction uses manual knitting machines, while other elements are hand-knitted and finished by hand.
Then come the details that make them unmistakably Chicha.
Embroidery.
Little animals.
Flowers.
Mountains.
Sunshine.
All those wonderfully colourful details inspired by Peru and the natural world.
They're added by skilled hands, one jumper at a time.
It's why you might occasionally notice tiny differences between two jumpers of the same design.
I love that.
They're not coming off a fully automated production line, and they're not supposed to look as though they did.
Those small variations are part of the story of how they were made.
A craft with deep roots
Textile making has an extraordinary history in Peru, and those traditions are part of the world Chicha comes from.
Knitting, weaving and embroidery aren't simply decorative techniques. They represent generations of knowledge, skill and creativity.
Chicha isn't trying to recreate historical Peruvian textiles, and I think that's an important distinction.
Our jumpers are contemporary children's clothing.
But they're made within a culture where textile craftsmanship still matters, using skills that deserve to be valued rather than hidden behind a clothing label.
That connection means a great deal to me as a Peruvian woman building Chicha from my home in New Zealand.
Why this matters to Chicha
Children's clothing can be made very quickly and very cheaply.
We've chosen a different way.
Not because handmade automatically makes something better.
But because I believe the people who make our clothes should matter.
Their time should matter.
Their skills should matter.
And customers should be able to know something about the hands behind what they're buying.
When you choose a Chicha jumper, you're supporting paid work for our knitting partners in Peru and helping us continue building a long-term relationship with Analy and her team.
You're also choosing something that has passed through many hands before it reaches yours.
From an idea here in Fiordland.
To Analy and the knitters in Peru.
Through sampling, knitting, embroidery and finishing.
Then all the way back across the Pacific to become part of somebody's childhood here in New Zealand.
Handmade in Peru. Worn on adventures in Aotearoa.
And hopefully loved enough to be passed down when those adventures are over.
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