Mike Korchinsky started Wildlifeworks in 1997 when he went to Africa and found so much poaching going on that he decided to do something about it.He bought a failed cattle ranch at Rukinga about 90 miles from Mombassa on the Kenyan Tanzanian border; one of the key conservation sites on earth.
He employed rangers to protect the wildlife but over time realised that simply protecting wildlife from the outside world wasn’t the way to go. He needed to engage the local community to help stop the poaching and the best way to do this was by giving them jobs, so he built a factory to produce organic apparel. The project has also built schools in order to educate local children about the importance of wildlife conservation.
In 2001, they began by producing simple T-shirts for the US marketplace. In time, and with on-going training, the team have developed the skills necessary to produce ready-to-wear collections which are now created by a team of Fashion Designers in the UK. Over the next few pages we showcase our favourites from their Autumn/Winter 2007 collection.
Wildlifeworks’ fashion vision is to producestylish, design-led, high-quality, organic collections that take into consideration the needs, aspirations and values of the 21st century professional woman and their success in Kenya demonstrates how trade can positively support local communities and protect ecology at the same time.