On the heels of Hispanic Heritage Month, we’re thrilled to highlight Afterpay brand partner GRL Collective, a Latinx-founded jewelry and apparel (and more) brand founded “for girls who give a f*ck!” We spoke with founder Kristine Rodriguez about the origins of her company, the nonprofits and projects GRL Collective supports, and the future of sustainable, women and minority-owned business.
Afterpay: GRL Collective was founded by a Latina with a social mission at heart. Why did your founder bring this business to life, and how did she create a model around brand-aligned social causes?
Kristine Rodriguez: I started GRL Collective in 2017. I testified against my abuser in a public case and post-trial was struggling with my mental health. A girlfriend told me about the Sambhali Trust in India and when I saw that in addition to education girls and women they had a "no bad touch" program to educate girls on sexual abuse, I felt like it was exactly what I was being called to do.
I left the multicultural marketing agency I had been working at in LA to volunteer in India for 40 days with this girls and women's empowerment program. The girls and women there completely changed my life. They saved me, they taught me, they put me back together when I felt broken.
Before even returning home I started working on the GRL Collective site because I felt too guilty leaving without a solution for how I could continue helping them. Before my trip I was hand making jewelry to raise money for the trip and while I was still making jewelry in my room while spending those days in India I realized that the jewelry could be the thing I could sell to give back to the girls.
When I got home from India I hit the ground running and launched the GRL Collective instagram, website, etc. The girls in India are the core of this business and always will be.
Afterpay: Last month was Hispanic Heritage Month, but GRL Collective champions and supports people of hispanic heritage year-round. How are some of the ways you support this community, both through your products, your supply chain, and nonprofit beneficiaries?
Kristine: We donate to RAICES Texas to help with legal aid at the border. What is happening on our borders is gut wrenching and wrong on so many levels and what RAICES is doing to help the predominantly Latinx migrants in detention centers is truly amazing.
As a Mexican-American intersectional feminist I aim to make products that make my community, and all women of color feel seen. Our “mind like Frida, moves like Selena” dress is one of our best sellers along with our Latina earrings, and it's so humbling to know it's because the designs resonate with women in my community.
I want Latinas to wear our designs and feel empowered, beautiful and proud. I've made it a point to include some Latina heroes on our merchandise because representation is so important. I want little Latinas everywhere to grow up in a world where they are seeing themselves as heroes, as congresswomen, as activists and as artists.
In regard to our supply chain we print all GRL Collective merchandise with a Latina-owned business in San Diego. We also partner with other Latinx brands for merchandise collaborations! This helps us to continue to build wealth within our businesses, which in turn will help to empower our communities, which will hopefully result in building generational wealth.
Afterpay: How does GRL Collective build community around your brand, both with BIPOC consumers and with their allies? How does this community live your “Tu Lucha Es Mi Lucha” / “Your Struggle is My Struggle” ethos?
Kristine: We build community through "giving a f*ck". We build community through honesty, through sharing experiences and through empathy.
A lot of the GRL Collective community has been with us since the very first trip to India. A lot of the GRL Collective community also found us when our Lucha image went viral. I feel such a deep connection with all of them. GRL Collective has always and will always be about showcasing, amplifying and uplifting women, specifically women of color in all the beautiful ways that we exist. It has always and will always be about intersectionality. Nothing exists in a vacuum and I don't think anything can be solved in a vacuum.
In order for us all to move forward and make progress we need to support each other. That's what “tu lucha es mi lucha, your struggle is my struggle” is about. It's about standing up for one another, leaning on each other for love and empathy and also standing together powerfully against white supremacy. Intersectionality is key in doing that, not one community should have to go at it alone. White supremacy has affected ALL communities of color and in order to defeat it, we have to ban together, along with our allies.
Afterpay: How does GRL Collective leverage Afterpay to empower your consumers to shop responsibly? How has it helped you grow your business?
Kristine: We pride ourselves on being as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible. We use manufacturers for our clothing that have the necessary certifications, all our jewelry is handmade in India by an artisan we work with directly and we use plastic-free packaging.
Choosing to take all of these practices into consideration has our price point higher than some of our competitors and fast fashion brands. Afterpay empowers our customers to be able to shop more responsibly by purchasing sustainable clothing over fast fashion and not having to break the bank doing so by having more time to pay for their items!
Categories