Firstly our news. Drum roll, bagpipes plus lots of Mexican hooting please.......................;
We have a new store open in Tulum, Mexico!!
A dream of many years. We also had a beautiful pop up store showcasing the best of our collections over the Winter here on the beach in Tulum..... I know
We are here because half of our family are Mexican, we wanted to experience a bit more of the fatherland and we wanted to open a store here in town, in Tulum. Which if you don't know is a stunning wild, jungle, hipster, hippy yoga town with a stunning beaches, ruins and independent stores.
See my post 'Rise of the Tuluminati' a little guide on the Tulum region in Mexico we wrote since being here....
Our store has been well received, our staff and project partners an absolute dream of support, our team championing in the UK to send out your orders, and reply to your messages and help launch our new collection. None of this would be possible without our amazing team of women, might I add.
International Women's Day alongside A Protest by Women in Mexico
This is why this years International women's day is even more important to celebrate. Equality is something I believe our staff and our loyal customers automatically strive for, but something we all need to keep working on, respectfully, financially and in particular to break down the stereotypes that come along with the divide that occurs between the sexes. We want to keep blurring the lines in our designs and promotions, crossing the lines between the genders and breaking stereotypes of gender fashion with our Tribalik collections and ideas.
Here in Mexico it is even more important to mark this time of year. This country has our hearts, it is tear jerkingly beautiful, the people, the food, our families, friends and the unbelievable landscapes. However all this beauty masks some of the serious issues in the country, some which next week we want to highlight as part of international women's day. The most important of which is the endless brutal femicides that occur here in Mexico.
In Mexico, 10 women are killed daily, 4 children go missing and authorities rarely solve the cases or punish the criminals.
As we all know almost of these crimes are committed by men, yet women and children are paying for this with their lives.
Image courtesy of @camdelafu
One of the many slogans of the day is "un dia sin mujeres": "a day without women". The idea is, as way of protest, women refuse to participate in society on that day. We will refuse to work, spend, study, take our children to school or college and will prove the importance of our role in society. To respect this day of national strike our female staff in Mexico will not be working, our children will not be attending school and no money will be spent on that day.
We also would like to help women within communities being affected by poverty in this region by committing to raise funds towards their education. We are volunteering with a beautiful community on the outskirts of Tulum who are in need of education and resources both of which empower the children to grow and learn.
On the 9th March 50% of all sales from our online store will be donated to support the education of these people.
I will personally make sure the money goes directly to their resources so not a penny is lost.
Lets, while we celebrate and encourage equality on this day, also have a moment's thought for the communities around the world who have a lot further to go to support women and create equality than we do in the UK.
A special thank you to all our beautiful team of employees, all of whom are women and whose characters and struggles inspire me daily.