Connect with Mayu’s Twitter, Facebook and blog for more on alpaca, eco-fashion, and fun Fair Trade adventures!

Mayu would like to present a guest post from Laddhavan Sutana, our esteemed designer from Chicago. Without her, Mayu’s accessories would not be the snazzy and fabulous pieces of art that they are! Here Laddhavan provides the answer to one pivotal question:

When did I decide to become a clothing designer?

I don’t know, really. I do not ever remember saying I was going to grow up to be a designer. This was before Project Runway and celeb designed labels.  I always was an artistic kid and drew lots of pictures of glamorous women and copied pictures of period costumes in books-paying close attention to seam lines, ruffles, and other design features. In middle school I was awarded best artist and best dressed. I guess my fate to become a clothing designer was sealed at an early age.

After graduating from high school in Wisconsin, I moved myself down to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for the fashion program. It was a very creative driven curriculum with no business orientation. I was not a stellar student as I felt I wanted to go more into the direction of designing with the intent to sell instead of designing for runway “wow” factor. I did take from it some technical skills like pattern making from draping and designing a cohesive collection.  I also took a knitwear design and construction class and that was when I learned how to knit by hand and on the hand loom.

I fell in love with knitwear and apprenticed with my instructor, who had her own small design company. She taught me the most wonderful skill of doing fully fashioned knits on the loom and exceptional hand finishing techniques. I was doing production for her and eventually was given a knitting loom to use at home to work at my own hours. I was also fortunate enough to land several more jobs with other small design companies after graduating from college in 1999.

I worked in fashion as design assistant, designer, and pattern maker…and also odd jobs in between. Eventually, I decided to do my own thing and in 2003, launched my company, Sutana Clothing Co. The hours were long, but I was driven and loved what I was doing. I was selling to 14 stores and venues and working non stop doing all the designing and patterning, some sewing, and all the knitting and finishing. I took on several interns to help out, but the hours caught up with me and after filling my Spring 2007 collection, I went on hiatus with the intent to return in a couple seasons.

Then the economy took a nose dive and I decided to sit out since I was feeling burned out still from fashion and felt like I needed to go in a new direction. I still love to design, but focus more on the technical like production management, pattern making, styling.

In October 2009 I became a first time mom to a baby boy who is growing quickly to become the next energizer bunny. While I am spending my days in domestic bliss, my mind is never far away from the next collection.

Thanks Laddhavan! What an adorable cutie-pie! We hope to hear more from you soon as Mayu continues to develop their upcoming fall collection! Keep checking back with Mayu’s blog, Twitter, and Facebook for more on eco-fashion, Fair Trade, and sustainability news!

Visited the Victory Ranch Alpaca Farm in Mora, New Mexico and came across this sign. Sums everything up just about perfectly. Enough said!

Connect with Mayu on Twitter, Facebook and our blog for exciting news about Peru, artisans, sustainability, eco-fashion, fair trade, and hand-knit alpaca.

We at Mayu can wax on all day about how great our products are, however, the best way to find out is to read our customers’ comments! Read their feedback for yourself!

Mayu’s “great handmade products” are of “high quality, with a beautiful appearance, and a good cause.” Our customers “love the socially responsible-ness ” and think our “beautiful products” are “original, practical and so comfortable“! The Mayu experience is all about our “excellent cause; excellent product; and excellent service“.

“Beautiful and stylish products with a social conscience? Of course!”
You heard it here first!

Don’t take our amazing customers’ word[s] for it! Visit our website for more information and gorgeous photos of our alpaca accessories, and keep up with our blog, find us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook!

Click Pic for Video Link!

Watch traditional Peruvian weaving in action! The Travel Channel‘s Samantha Brown visits rural Peru to discover the differences between llamas and alpacas, and to witness traditional weaving techniques. Click the photo to follow the link>>

Connect with Mayu on Twitter, Facebook and our blog for exciting news about sustainability, eco-fashion, fair trade, and hand-knit alpaca.

We would compare our throw blanket with the Seen-It-On-TV Snuggie, but the two are incomparable! Far superior to synthetic fleece, our basketweave blanket with fringe is amazing! Do you actually want to look like a potato when you’re being a couch potato? We don’t think so.

Say NO to the Non- Sustainable Snuggie, and say YES to Mayu’s Freely Shipped, Fairly Traded Hand-Knit Alpaca Throw! Throw it on your dad, throw it on your mom, throw it on your couch, just make sure that your home doesn’t go without one!

Follow us via Twitter, our blog or Facebook! Happy Father’s Day!

[NO SNUGGIE ZONE]

Mayu has recently had the honor of being featured as one of the vendors on the True Fair Trade Marketplace. This website was created as a tool to stem the tide of Fair Trade impostors that have recently emerged online. When you shop on True Fair Trade, you can be assured that all of the products have surely been traded fairly. All of the businesses featured on TFT are members of the Fair Trade Federation (like Mayu) and/or the World Fair Trade Organization. You can find anything from apparel (like *cough* alpaca apparel), to chocolate, to jewelery and home decor. Clicking on any of the products will automatically take you to the online catalogue.

Check out this exciting new marketplace, and as always, check back with Mayu on Twitter, Facebook and our blog for the latest news about sustainability, eco-fashion, fair trade, international development and hand-knit alpaca!

Mayu-Hand Knit Alpaca Clothing Review

I recently won a Mayu ruffle scarf in chocolate brown on Mayu’s blog. I was very excited to win this item and couldn’t wait to see what it looked like in person! I received my scarf very quickly and was blown away by how beautifully knit this scarf was. I’ve never felt real Alpaca wool and let me tell you, it’s amazingly soft.

Melanie, send us an email (info@shopmayu.com) with your mailing address and we will make sure your chocolate brown ruffle scarf gets to you as soon as possible!

Thank you everyone for participating! Check back right here on Monday; we have another great promotion in the works. We’ll give you a hint…starting thinking about Earth Day and what you can do to help our earth and all our global friends.

Have a great weekend,

Your friends at Mayu

Follow us via Twitter@shopmayu, our blog or Facebook!

Mayu’s Ruffle Scarf Giveaway!

Mayu is having our FIRST giveaway contest and we want to make sure you have the chance to win a beautiful chocolate brown ruffle scarf. This ECO-FRIENDLY, FAIRLY-TRADED, ALPACA scarf is our most popular product and retails for $119! There are two easy ways to enter and spread the love for Mayu. Entry only takes 1 minute, so give it a shot! The giveaway closes April 16th at 10AM. Each person is limited to one entry and the winner will be selected randomly and notified immediately. Good luck!

How Likely Are You to Recommend Mayu?

This month we asked to hear from you, our lovely customers and friends! Many of you received our request for feedback on Mayu’s customer service. If you didn’t already respond, please take 20 seconds to fill out the survey . Customer service is so important to us and we want to hear your thoughts and comments. Any ideas or suggestions you have, we are more than happy to listen, so please, keep ‘em coming!

Association of Alpaca Apparel

Last month Mayu launched the Association of Alpaca Apparel, a global network inspired by the cultivation, production and distribution of products made with pure alpaca fiber. The goal is to use AAA as a platform to converse and learn from others involved in the sale of alpaca apparel. With the support of our network, we hope to provide unlimited opportunity for South American alpaca farmers and artisans who produce high quality alpaca apparel. Friends, please visit us on Ning at Association of Alpaca Apparel. We have some fantastic things planned for our community!

Calling All Bloggers: World’s Working Women

Mayu is conducting a blog series through the month of April profiling companies working directly with women artisans or producers. The series, World’s Working Women , focuses on individual female artisans or artisan groups working around the globe. We have heard so many wonderful stories over the past few years and we want to give you the chance to hear them too! This week we profiled Joyce, an amazing paper-beader in Uganda. Please check out her incredible story and stay tuned for next week’s story.

So that about wraps it up for now. Just a few reminders:

• We still have a couple long Rayas Hoodies left (at an incredible price of $99) so head over to Mayu and snap one up!
• Kate is off to Peru this summer, so stay tuned for some great blogs and news on the upcoming Fall 2010 line and
• As always, please pass along the Mayu love to your friends. We love meeting new people and exchanging ideas with them. We are super easy to get a hold of–you can follow us via Twitter@shopmayu, our blog or Facebook!

Have a great week and we look forward to hearing from you!

The Mayu Team