Producer profile: Elfarrow Apparel Nepal
Updated: Aug 1
Tontu Planet is a proud distributer of Elfarrow Apparel. This is a Canadian brand of women's clothing that feels, looks, customer story to put dollars and mission to. All Elfarrow Apparel clothing is proudly fairtrade and ethically made. For customers that love to know the story behind their clothes, the Elfarrow tale is a good one.
Designer story.
It's rare to find a designer who co-owns and creates her own factory, but Kyley Blomquist is one of those rare human beings. An avid traveler and a self-taught student of traditional arts, Kyley sought every opportunity to find the women in every village, from Ireland to Nepal, who would sit and share knowledge and skills. Weaving willow baskets, building cob ovens, creating textiles on handmade looms, this is a woman who creates with the environment and the people around her. When her travels took her to the rooftop of the world, she fell in love with the Himalayas and decided this was going to be her business home, in the sacred country of Nepal.
Kyley had been selling her handmade garments since 2010 out of her house and market stalls back home in Canada, but when the demand for her designs started to grow she joined forces with friend and partner, Salim Kahn of Kathmandu. The markets of Nepal offered more by way of fibre options and she began to work with organic cottons, bamboo, hemp, wool, and whatever blend was readily available in the garment districts of Kathmandu. In 2014, she and Salim decided to create the Elfarrow Apparel Nepal factory, in an effort to provide workers a safe, clean, equitable, and sacred work environment.
Factory story.
2014 saw the birth of the fairtrade, ethical, Elfarrow Apparel factory in Kathmandu, Nepal, where designs are dyed, cut, sewn, and packaged by men, women, and families. Elfarrow Nepal has been able to support and stabilize many families and businesses in the area. Fabrics range from locally woven cottons, bamboo blends, to recycled and reclaimed fibres, favouring what is available and supportive to the local market and other small businesses in Kathmandu.
In 2015 a devastating earthquake shook Nepal. Elfarrow Apparel immediately began fundraising efforts in Canada. Elfarrow clients and friends donated over $16,000 in less than a week for earthquake disaster relief. Thanks to the generosity of Thunder Bay residents, Elfarrow tailors were able to sew numerous shelter tents, and staff delivered over 17,000lbs of food to difficult-to-reach mountain communities. A forever bond of friendship strengthened between the two nations.
All Elfarrow Apparel garments are dyed, silkscreened and stitched by hand in Kathmandu, Nepal, employing staff with fair wages as well as an ethical environment to work in. Employing people on two continents and supporting creatives to build their businesses, Elfarrow Apparel evolution is a remarkable story of expansion, leap of faith, creative genius, and honourable partnership. Not to mention, incredibly beautiful and intuitive design.
Elfarrow Apparel uniquely designed fashion is currently available online at Tontu.ca as well as various boutiques on Vancouver Island, including Kyley Blomquist's own Waterfront Country Cafe on Salt Spring Island, with the bootscootin' addition of cowboy accessories and live folk music. Salim Khan is expanding a much desired Elfarrow men's line in Nepal. Kyley is still traveling, learning, and grounding herself by experimentally creating from her environment. The latest of which involves spinning raw sheep's wool into ... We'll have to stay tuned to see!
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