Fashion, Product review

Zuri Collection – Brand Spotlight

41 Comments

Early this year, I was excited to encounter Abby, the founder of Zuri Collection, and discover her socially responsible business.  As you know, I enjoy finding clothing that is good quality, beautiful and also fair trade.

Zuri Collection

Zuri Collection’s journey started in 2013 during Abby’s time teaching in Tanzania.  She witnessed how hard it was for Tanzanian families to support themselves.  In 2016, Abby started Zuri Collection, working with Tanzanian seamstresses and artisans to help provide a marketplace to sell their products in the USA and to earn a fair wage.  Zuri Collection represents Tanzanian artisanship and offers ethically made skirts, such as the one I am wearing in this post, jewelry, bags, and homeware.

The Skirt

The Skirt I am wearing is called the Dorice and is made from Tanzanian Kitenge fabric.  One of the things I love about this skirt, apart from the uranium green which is one of my favourite colours, is that it has pockets.  There is a definite dearth of pockets in women’s clothing and a fair number of essays have been written about why women’s pockets are so small, purely decorative or don’t even exist.  I was also happy to realise this skirt fitted me like a glove.  I’m used to customising my clothing to fit my “vertically challenged” frame but this skirt didn’t need any alteration.

Figuring out what to pair this skirt with wasn’t as easy.   As I’ve got older I’ve felt less “need” to express myself through clothing and most days defer to the LA uniform of leggings and active wear in neutral colours where pairing isn’t an issue.   However, with the Dorice skirt, I needed to try several different tops before finding one that worked.  I later realised that Abby has put together an entire blog post on how to wear an African skirt and fully appreciate when Abby says “African skirts can seem a little intimidating to wear.”  Now that I’ve tried one I feel the old buzz I used to get from wearing something different and am excited to break out from my lazy uniform.

Click here to check out Abby’s blog post and to learn more about kitenge fabric.

Special thanks to Zuri Collection for sponsoring this post.  As always, all opinions are my own.

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41 Comments

  8. It a lovely skirt. I also love the color and pattern. Is not the top a little dareing for daytime?. Maybe its just me being old. This is a wonderful blog post. You look absolutely beautiful and it does fit you perfect.???☺☺????. Ps,just kidding about the top, looks awesome on you!!!!

    1. Haha! You may be teasing, but for me that top is was a bit daring for daytime look! Was part of the fun wearing it! Thank you so much, I’m so pleased you enjoyed the blog post and I hope you’re having a good start to the week! 🙂

  13. The skirt looks amazing on you! And i think it’s so awesome how you’re such an advocate for sustainable clothes and fair trade. You’re amazing girl! 🙂 Xx

    1. Aw thank you lovely, on both counts! I’m definitely not amazing but I am happy to be able to share my passion for sustainable clothing and have fun at the same time 🙂 I hope you have a great week xx

  14. I love that the Zuri brand aims to give back to the people of Tanzania by giving the seamstresses a fair wage. Ethical brands make all the difference and I want to spend the next year learning more about them! Thanks for sharing and I’m seriously in love with this whole outfit! The colors are so fun!

    xoxo Rina
    http://www.andshedressed.com

    1. Me too! It’s kind of sad that we even think such a thing is special but hopefully with more companies like Zuri Collective it will become the norm. I’m excited to hear about what you learn and thank you so much about my outfit! It was really fun rocking such bright colours! 🙂 xxx

  15. Such a stunning color on you, definitely not easy to pull off, but you do it with ease. I seem to fall into that trap of the LA uniform as well, especially when working from home. When I get dressed up it’s like a rebirth.

    1. Aw thank you Raja! I think that LA uniform is an easy trap to fall into. At the moment I only have class 4 days a week for a few hours and so it’s so easy to just turn up in grey leggings and a baggy tee in a different shade of grey. I feel the same when I get dressed up. Lets get dressed up for something soon!

  16. You look so amazingly beautiful babe! I love the skirt and the patterns and especially how you match the two colors: the skirt and the top, they contrast is really wonderful. Great choices! Have a fun time in Colorado and can’t wait to see picture of your skiing adventures :)))))

    xoxo, Gina

    1. Thank you so much Gina! Like I said, it took a while to find the right top but now I have this outfit down ;p Colorado was lovely, you are so sweet for remembering 🙂 I hope you’ve had a good start to the week xox

  17. Such a lovely brand, and I like how ethical it is – always a huge plus in my book. 🙂 Loving the outfit so much, the skirt is so sassy and I love how you styled it with the rest of the outfit! Thanks for sharing, darling. <3 xoxo

    Kay
    http://shoesandglitter.com