Meet Angela Luna, the fashion designer making a collection for Syrian refugees

‘I was really drawn to the crisis and wanted to offer support’

Earlier this week, we had the privilege of sitting down with Angela Luna, a fashion graduate whose senior project became an entrepreneurial scheme to help refugees though functional fashion.

What started as a risky project that even her teachers were skeptical about has turned into an up-and-coming brand gaining international attention.

Massachussetts-born Angela just graduated this May from Parsons with a major in Fashion Design, and she told us about where she’s headed next.

Photo credit: Jess Richmond

Tell us about your senior project to use fashion to help Syrian refugees. What is it? When did you begin?

I had originally planned on going to school and majoring in couture and evening wear so I started my thesis focusing on that. It kind of happened overnight almost. I had always been interested in politics and what’s going on in the world and I try to keep myself very informed.

There was this one night about three weeks into my final year that I was online reading an article about a smuggler’s boat that was trying to take refugees from Turkey to Greece and there was a journalist on board. He was documenting their experience and as I was reading the article, there was a video attached as well, I found myself looking at what these people are going through. They’re having a really hard time getting attention from these fishing boats because it’s really dark and they’re just waving their flashlights in the air. What if they had reflective clothing or what if there was something that would allow them to be seen much more easily? I was reflecting on this and wondering how I could use my skill set to offer any kind of solution.

The next day I went to my professors and told them that I was changing my thesis to creating solutions for refugees through design. It was a big shock for them. I had never really had any experience with doing design like this before. But after reading those article I was just really drawn to the crisis and wanted to do anything I could to offer support.

Have you worked on functional fashion before?

I did not study it at all. I did a lot of couture and tailoring classes which puts a lot of attention to detail which I find is really important when doing functional fashion as well. A lot of the time I would be creating these dresses or garments where if you blow too hard or if a gust of wind comes by, it just falls apart because everything is hand stitched and very delicate.

I was excited to do something that wouldn’t fall apart with a gust of wind [laughs]. It was definitely something new to me. It was exciting because I’ve never done it before. It was also a major challenge doing the construction. Thankfully I’m really good at sewing.

Do you have any personal connection to Syria?

Not at all actually. It was just me identifying with the crisis as a human and feeling empathetic with the situation. I felt so far away and wanted to do something.

What’s the current status of the project? What kind of support have you gotten?

People have been incredibly helpful. I’m really lucky to have that kind of support system. Parsons has been really good about connecting me to the right person as well. Now it’s moving forward to the stages where it’s becoming a humanitarian brand. I’m working through finalizing product development right now so that way we will be offering some pieces of the collection available for purchase. I am making connections with the necessary nonprofits to work on getting donations as well.

Mostly for the last few months I’ve been gearing up to go forward with this crowd funding pre-sale. Hopefully within the next month or two I will have the clothes available for purchase.

Where do you hope to be in the coming year?

Ideally I would like the brand to already have sold the first few collections. I would like to move operations sometime to Europe, specifically to Germany within the next one to two years. Their response to the refugee crisis has been a lot more positive as opposed to the US.

I was over in Europe a few weeks ago and I was noticing how even the most random person on the street knows more about the refugee crisis than someone paying a lot of attention to it in the US.

I would also like to hire resettled refugees living within Germany or Europe so that the brand is also creating long term solutions through jobs. I don’t know if that’s going to happen in a year. That might be my five-year goal but it’s definitely a goal for me.

What about any long term goals, without a time limit?

High Commissioner for Refugees of the United Nations [laughs]. I definitely want to see this brand play a role not only within fashion but in the nonprofit world as well.

Fashion definitely has a bad rep just in terms of humanitarian aspects. Ethically, there are a lot of brands that are not producing their clothes correctly. They’re using child labor, unsafe working conditions. There is a stigma around fashion and ethics but I think there’s going to be a new wave of humanitarian fashion. I’ve seen that now collaborating with other designers and manufacturers who really do put ethics first.

When I was starting out it was really difficult getting my foot in the door with nonprofits because people weren’t taking it too seriously, probably because of my background in fashion. Once they paid attention to the project and learned a bit more about it, they became more receptive.

I hope this brand can create a dialog about other industries making their way into the nonprofit sector. I would like to form my own nonprofit as well that encourages design innovation for any global issue, not just the refugee crisis and be able to promote people like me who want to offer a solution in whatever way they could.

If readers would like to get involved, or help out in some way, what would be the best way to do that?

I am doing a donation page so if readers do want to donate to the cause, I do need money to continue with these final stages of product development. Then I will be doing a pre-sale where you can purchase the clothes. If out of the goodness of your heart you would like to donate, I would really appreciate it.

If any of the readers have any special skills, talents or background in whatever field, I’m totally receptive. Just shoot me an email or send me a message on the contact page of my website. Tell me what you’re good at and I’ll try to find a way for you to volunteer if you want to. We accept everyone.

@royaventurera

More
Columbia University