We have always valued the craftsmanship of handmade products - a value distilled in us by Audrey’s father whose love for handcrafted pieces was evident in every nook and cranny of the home. There is something about the beauty of a handmade piece that changes the way you value it. When we started Soluna Collective, we made it our mission to work with hands over machines in as many stages of the process as possible.

Traditional Techniques

Our love for handmade pieces took form on our exploration trip to India. Hand looms and the traditional heritage of making textiles is an instrumental part of India’s past. The vibrant sarees, beautiful antique rugs and extraordinary kanthas that adorn many homes in India, were most likely made by hand. The movement towards handmade goods in India can be traced back to Gandhi's Swadeshi Movement, a call to boycott foreign-made goods. His movement inspired millions around India to produce their own goods and evenly fostered a global market for Indian textiles.

In today’s textile producing countries, a substantial portion of garment production is for foreign companies with quite a few producing volumes in the hundreds of thousands. That type of capacity can only be done by machines. It's important to clarify that we don't hold any objections to machines; they can be highly efficient, boost production capacities, and contribute to lower prices. We just believe in being different and supporting the crafts!

Talented Artisans

In a world fashion world increasingly dominated by machines, we saw an interesting void. As machines took over, it left thousands of really talented handmade artisans without a job. In India, we were captivated by hand loomed textiles. Founded on the belief of revitalizing “textile heritage skills by contemporizing the use & relevance without diluting its core values”, Five P Venture is one of the world leaders in handmade textiles. In Peru, handknits just hit a little different. Harkened, who makes all our hand knit sweaters, believes in “honoring artisans and craft” while preserving the “charm of handmade”.

Bonus | Energy Savings

An added bonus to creating textiles by hand is the reduction of energy emissions. Weaving accounts for roughly 11.4% of the energy emissions during the production of textiles. About 85% of that comes from electricity and 15% from fuel sources such as coal and natural gas. Per piece, the total energy savings is roughly 2.7MJ for a standard shirt. For Five P Venture, it’s hand loom facility is Green Building Certified and is 100% run on solar powered energy!