TLM11: MAIYET

Maiyet’s new brand of luxury returns to classic ideals of quality—combining artisanal handcraftsmanship with high-end design—yet approaches it from a modern angle that is global and socially-conscious. “While the pattern [design], cutting, and sewing happen in New York,” says Kristy Caylor, cofounder, president, and creative director, “a single blazer might have hand-woven silk from Varanasi, an Italian lining, and handmade buttons from Indonesia or Mexico.” Other elements include hand-cast jewelry from Kenya, hand-block prints from Jaipur, and Peruvian handmade knits.

What is perhaps most defining for Maiyet, however, is that it does not simply source ready-made garments from afar. Through a partnership with Nest, an independent nonprofit organization focused on the development of artisan business, the brand also works to facilitate relationships with traditionally-trained craftsmen in underdeveloped countries to promote their self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship.

The distant artisans create custom fabrics, prints, and pieces for Maiyet’s designs, which are developed by a team in New York, whose collective work experience includes Céline and Saint Laurent, among others. While the mission and the ethics are key, design remains the decided starting point, rather than an afterthought. The æsthetic, per Caylor, is “modern bohemian minimalism.”

Maiyet was launched in 2011 by Paul van Zyl, a South African human rights lawyer, now the brand’s CEO; Daniel Lubetzky, an entrepreneur who also founded KIND Healthy Snacks; and Caylor, who previously worked as head of merchandising for Gap Accessories and Product (RED), which raises money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Long a global brand in terms of sourcing and sales—available at retailers like Barneys, where it launched as an exclusive, and Net-a-Porter—Maiyet debuted its first stand-alone store in downtown New York this summer.

As any brand expands, so do pricing pressures and logistical demands, and one might wonder how Maiyet will maintain the integrity of the cause that defines it. But its founders built the business with scale in mind, aligning product goals with social ones. Customers expect the product to “celebrate rare artisanal skills from unexpected places,” Caylor says. “If we moved away from that focus and commitment, we would not only jeopardize our social goals, but we would disappoint our customers.” To that end, Maiyet strategically partners with artisan groups who have the ability and desire to grow with the company, says Caylor. “In scaling, the artisans achieve sustainable employment growth, which is our main social goal. Nest also participates heavily in achieving this growth via customized training and upgrading programs.”

The brand’s latest initiative, the Varanasi Project, perfectly embodies this sort of growth. Maiyet, working with Nest, plans to revive a 500-year-old weaving tradition in the holy Indian city where it began. In addition to the competitive threat of less-expensive, machine-made silks from Southeast Asia, there are fewer trained silk weavers in Varanasi today, and most of them work from home, where leaky roofs and incon- sistent electricity are destructive to both fabrics and process. Maiyet, with the architect David Adjaye, will create a new work facility intended to be less a “factory” than “a tribute to the weavers themselves,” Caylor says. “David Adjaye has designed a truly inspired building that reflects the culture and the needs of the weavers.” In addition to providing safe and clean working conditions, the facility will also serve as a community center, with health education classes, childcare, bike lending, and more. The project—announced, coinciden- tally, weeks after the garment factory collapse in Bangladesh earlier this year—will launch in 2014, and is bound to result in fresh, silk-filled future collections.

Maiyet is available at Maiyet, New York, and Barneys New York. For more information, please visit Maiyet.com. Photography by Amy Troost.

Mallory Passuite is a freelance writer living in New York City, currently working in fashion.

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