Ashaninka

Since 2012, Instituto-E and Osklen have maintained a partnership with the Ashaninka - an indigenous ethnic group native to the Amazon, located in the region of Acre and on the border with Peru. This partnership is anchored in valuing ancestral knowledge, strengthening forest peoples and the standing forest economy.

By using fashion as a communication platform, we develop projects such as the expansion of the Yorenka Atame - Forest Knowhow Center - a place where indigenous and non-indigenous people are taught sustainable management and forest preservation techniques; development of a joint collection between the Ashaninka ethnic group and the Osklen team and the creation of a photography workshop - in which community members were trained to record their customs, culture, and surroundings from their own perspective.

Furthermore, Instituto-E and Osklen made it possible for two Ashaninka leaders to attend COP20 in Lima, whose main theme was indigenous issues. In 2017, the ethnic group completed 25 years since the demarcation of their lands in Acre and were awarded the United Nations’ Equator Prize, in recognition of what they have done to defend the forest and its peoples. They were chosen from over 800 applications from 120 countries as an “example of local nature-based solutions for sustainable development”.