Thanks to Istituto Oikos, a startup making accessories from leather tanned using an ancient, sustainable method is getting under way, run by Maasai women in Tanzania. Ethical fashion designer Marina Spadafora tells us about the venture.
A sustainable fashion startup making accessories crafted by Maasai women in Tanzania using leather tanned with a vegetable technique — that is, an entirely natural one. The leather comes from livestock raised by Maasai communities, whose culture is traditionally based on pastoralism. Behind it is Istituto Oikos, a non-profit organisation founded in Milan in 1996 and active in developing countries with projects for the responsible management of natural resources.
Building on the success of Tanzania maasai women art — a line of high-quality jewellery combining traditional African style with Italian elegance — Oikos is launching this new social enterprise within the Terra project, funded by the Agenzia italiana per la cooperazione allo sviluppo and supported by the Municipality of Milan, the historic Tuscan tannery Newport, which has contributed its expertise in the leather goods sector, and the Nuova accademia di belle arti (Naba), with which an exchange programme for fashion design students is to be launched.
The startup consists of two distinct operations located in the Arusha region in northern Tanzania: a small tannery at the foot of Mount Meru that processes hides discarded from livestock carcasses using natural tanning, and a workshop where a collection of bags, belts and other small leather goods comes to life. The line is entirely handmade by 25 Maasai women guided by ethical fashion designer Marina Spadafora, who is personally involved as the project's creative director and believes that all the conditions are in place to transform this simple solidarity initiative into a fully fledged enterprise.
We spoke with the designer — coordinator of the Italian section of the international movement Fashion revolution — at the presentation of the social enterprise at the Acquario civico in Milan on 14 December. She told us that, as this is a pilot collection not yet available for sale, "two types of business had been envisaged: one focused on the direct sale of tanned hides to luxury houses in Italy under the Maasai's leather brand. Then one for finished goods, for which I had thought of persuading major tour operators to create a kind of envelope containing the ticket and itinerary for African trips, so as to guarantee a substantial and ongoing income for the Maasai women."
As a result of the drought affecting this area and decimating livestock, the Maasai community is going through an unprecedented economic crisis. Thus, in collaboration with local bodies and Italian partners, Istituto Oikos decided to launch an entirely women-led enterprise, drawing on one of this people's oldest traditions: leather working. "The Maasai people," Spadafora recounts, "had always worked leather, but they had rather forgotten about this, because China has completely flooded Africa with its products, so this tradition was lost. The idea is to bring out this abandoned and hidden art to give Maasai women an additional source of income."
"Istituto Oikos, which is primarily concerned with reforestation and ethical projects, essentially wants to give communities the opportunity to earn a living without cutting down trees," Spadafora continues. "Because, beyond the firewood they still have to use for cooking in their homes, Maasai communities cut down whatever shrubs there are in the surrounding area to make charcoal, sell it at the market and earn a little extra money. The result is that this area, already arid and desert-like by nature, is clearly becoming even more so because of this activity." Behind the accessories startup, therefore, lies the intention to protect this territory from activities that are harmful to environmental balance, by investing instead in vegetable tanning — which is capable of guaranteeing a stable income and valorising a tradition as ancient as it is precious, one that has always been central to Maasai identity.