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The founders of Animaná and Munkh, 2 companies that are making a positive impact through luxury fibers
Story by Diana Keeler / Photography courtesy of Animaná
Animaná founder Adriana Marina began her company with the goal of making positive
changes in sustainability and social development within the fashion industry,
and works with local artisans in Patagonia and the Andes to create high-quality
baby alpaca fibers for heirloom products meant to last for generations. Munkh
founder Bayarmaa works in a parallel manner with Mongolian goat herders who
produce some of the world’s finest fibers from sustainable goat cashmere.
Adriana Marina, the founder of Animana, was born in Southern Patagonia where
the immensity of the landscape contrasts with the Patagonian coasts,
plateaus, desert, and the rugged peaks of the Andes.
Changing social norms have forced the fashion and design industries to confront core concerns about its place within a progressive-minded society. “There’s been increasingly more awareness of all these problems over the past few years, including the impact [fashion manufacturing] has on the environment — pollution, contamination of the water, etc.,” says Animaná founder Adriana Marina, who credits that reckoning to the public’s increased access to information. "Consumers are more cautious now when they buy their food, clothing, and home accessories." - Animaná founder Adriana Marina
"Our company works directly with herders who continue the centuries old tradition of tending domesticated goats." Munkh’s founder and creative director, Bayarmaa 
Mongolian nomadic herders shearing cashmere off their goats.
These fibers will be spun and woven into soft, light throws for Munkh.
Munkh works in a parallel manner with Mongolian goat herders, who produce what
some judge the world’s finest cashmere fibers.
"Governments, multinational companies, international organizations, universities should work more together to promote changes from the [bottom] — and on a bigger scale." - Adriana Marina |
