Spanish brand DIARTE was founded by Ana and Jairo, after their return to their home country in 2010. They had already met in London, where they both fell in love with knitwear. “Considering our professional backgrounds (Jairo in logistics and business and Ana textile design) we thought we were a good combination. London is a vibrant city, and we saw other start-ups doing well. That was very inspiring.” they said.
At first, their handcrafted knitwear were purposed only for their friends, but now, their collections are entirely produced in Spain, while their materials come from Spain, Italy and Portugal. “We’ve been taking baby steps since then. We believe growing slowly has helped us build solid foundations. Now, we are selling on 14 countries, so we are very happy with how everything has turned up. We face every season as a new challenge with something new to achieve”.
Their absolutely wearable collections combine modern and classic, minimalism and freedom of expression. The company’s social responsibility is not applied only to ecology or labour conditions, but it also refers to its clients. The brands addresses to people with sensibility and perception of reality, who want to feel comfortable and look for quality and aesthetics in every aspect of their lives.
#1: What does DIARTE mean? How did you come up with this name?
DIARTE is Ana’s last name. In fact we didn’t want to go for this easy choice, but after days of looking for the perfect name we ran out of options!
#2: Was moving back to Spain from London a risk?
We lived in London for a couple of years, and despite we liked very much our life there, we considered coming back to Spain the best option to start our business. Our sales are on international scale, but our suppliers and factories are here in Spain. We think living here is the best way to have everything under control to meet our standards of quality.
#3: How do you feel about expanding your production to other materials too?
DIARTE starts as a knitwear only label. After few seasons, we decided to go for fabrics as well. Currently we are open to include new materials that could add fresh vibes to our collections. However, something we always look for is high quality materials. We like to work with natural fibers, preferably with sustainable certifications. So, this is something that may limit us, although that doesn’t mean to close the door on new stuff.
#4: Are there any future plans or collaborations that you could share with us?
Until last season we had only been showing our collections in Paris fashion week. This SS15 collection DIARTE will be also showing, for the first time, in NYC. We realize the brand had very nice reviews from US and decided to break into that market. So fingers crossed!
We are also working very hard on increasing visibility in Asia, which is another market where the brand has had a warm welcome.
At the moment we are also working on a couple of very nice collaborations for the upcoming season. However we cannot unveil anything yet. But will keep you posted for sure!
