Mara Hoffman is a designer and made her own label, Mara Hoffman, which focuses on sustainability. Originally from Buffalo, N.Y, now she lives in Brooklyn with her husband, artist Javier Piñon, and their beloved son Joaquin.
She founded her label in 2000 after graduating from the department of fashion design from Parsons School of Design in New York City and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. As President and Creative Director of her own personal company, Hoffman uses her platform to share empowering messages about how we live, care for the world, and treat others.
Hoffman hopes to grow consumption habits that are aware of the impact on the environment and encourage consumers to reevaluate their relationship with clothing. When she started her eponymous label 18 years ago, sustainability wasn’t on her radar but now her approach centers on sustainable materials, processes, and products to improve and extend the life of each garment.
Mara Hoffman and Her Concern for Social and Environmental Impacts
Hoffman is committed to presenting collections devoted to special colors, each of which is inspired by and in the celebration of the nature of women. Headquartered in New York, she is an active member of CFDA and serves on the non-profit Nest board that focuses on craftsmen, the Glam4Good community organization and the ArtStart youth empowerment charity foundation.
Glam4good is a non-profit organization that helps people feel confident to get a job, to fight the disease, to start a new path, to empower the courage to pursue their dreams and to help their children.
Art starts itself is a non-profit organization that helps young people at risk such as living on the streets, shelter or are children who come from broken-home families. The organization works with local teaching artists and educators who volunteer their time and guidance to develop the creativity and talent of young people.
Mara Hoffman and her concern for the future generations
In 2017, Hoffman was awarded the 2017 Positive Impact Award for brand leadership in Enhancing Sustainability. The hallmark of a sustainable fashion designer like herself is that they are well aware of how seemingly small actions can make a significant difference to the planet.
Hoffman designs women’s clothing including super cute swimsuits made from waste. For starters, Hoffman uses recycled organic fabrics if possible. In addition, all brand partners must adhere to internationally recognized human rights standards to promote fair treatment for workers.
She acknowledged that she had worked on changes with regard to the environmental impact of the clothes she created. She realized that since having children it really changed everything. In the past, she only focused on how to ensure that she could truly pay employees, but when she had children, she cared more about the negative impacts that would arise if the fashion industrial waste was piled up.
’Here I am as a producer and make design every season, but my son and his generation are people who have to deal with all these things. We have made things too fast, and too much. There is a frightening feeling that you cannot change an industry that has been moving for so long, but I need to make some changes. ” said Hoffman.
At present Hoffman and her team continue to evaluate their supply chains and work to understand how companies can do better in all steps from design and packaging to the way they talk to consumers. Mara Hoffman focus on sustainable practices is reflected in her classic collections so that they can be worn on more occasions.
