Karla Gallardo and Shilpa Shah, co-founders of San Francisco–based apparel and accessories brand Cuyana, first met at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and began building the lifestyle brand based on a shared philosophy: less is more. “We were inspired because of the excess we’ve seen in the fashion industry,” says Gallardo, of the year-old company. “The extra ‘stuff’ we had accumulated left us feeling more overwhelmed than excited in the daily battle to sift through overstuffed drawers to find the pieces that we truly cared about.”

Designs at the well-edited showroom in Union Square include clean-lined clothing and accessories from black leather totes, fuschia travel pouches, white sleeveless tanks, straw fedoras, and light pink baby alpaca wool scarves. The brand’s summer 2014 collection features a debut jewelry line made in Bali, handcrafted by local artisans with centuries of knowledge in traditional jewelry-making techniques. “Our emphasis has always been to make the highest quality products possible, which inevitably requires traveling to the source of where those materials and where the expertise is to attain this level of quality,” says Shah. “We’ve traveled to Ecuador for straw, Peru for alpaca, Scotland for cashmere, Argentina for leather, and Turkey for cotton and linen.”

Cuyana also kicked off the year with a “lean closet series,” an initiative designed to help customers buy intentionally and simplify their wardrobes. (Customers who bought items received a bag along with a purchase to stash unwanted pieces from their own closets to send back to the company in exchange for store credit. The company then donated those items to non-profit organizations). “We are probably one of the only fashion brands that encourage customers to buy less,” says Shah. “People love our pieces because of the meaning behind it, including intentional buying, shopping consciously, and loving what you buy, as well as donating the pieces you no longer wear to those who need it. This lifestyle of simplicity and giving back is incredibly important to us.”

By Jennifer McCullum

 

Pictured: New Cuyana showroom in San Francisco.
Photo courtesy of Cuyana

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