The Zuri Story
It all started way back when in 2016 when I met Ashleigh at a wedding in Nairobi. I was wearing a dress I'd had made for myself, Ashleigh was so pregnant she was about to pop, and I offered to get a dress made for Ashleigh. A friendship was born.
Fast forward through a whirlwind year of buying fabrics, dropping in at Flo's, my favorite tailoring shop owner, to make dresses, and selling them wherever cold emails, friend's living rooms and the social media algorithms took us.
By the fall of 2017, we opened a shop on Bleecker Street in NYC, followed the next year by a shop on Fillmore Street in SF, all the while traveling around markets in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Senegal sourcing fabrics to make dresses in our home base of Kenya.
In the ensuing years, we've expanded to include handwoven textiles made in India, artist-designed fabrics printed in Kenya on 100% Kenyan cotton, and handprinted fabrics from Ghana and Senegal.
Today, our goal from the start remains unchanged:
We firmly believe that sustainable economies develop from businesses that operate fairly and ethically and create products that people want. Having spent a combined decade plus living in Nairobi, we saw how much both corruption and aid can distort markets, resulting in wasted resources and unsustainable livelihoods. We hope that by paying fair wages, sourcing locally, and making a product that our customers truly love, we will be helping to support a long-term, sustainable economy in Kenya.
I'm so grateful that we get to continue to work with partners that inspire our whole team to keep doing better and learning more. We hope you'll join us for the ride!
<3 Sandra
