Traveling In Style (With An Emphasis On Ethical Sourcing, Too!)

Yireh Brings Us The Perfect Ethically-Sourced Pieces For The Modern Traveler

Constantly traveling can prove to be quite a feat. Fitting excessive amounts of apparel, accessories, make-up, and adventure boots in a carry-on and backpack is nothing short of an extreme sport. Outfit planning for new destinations proves to be extra meticulous as it requires additional environmental knowledge. You need to know what the climate is going to be like, what special garments you need, and whoops, you did it again — you fell into the never ending rabbit hole of environmental facts of the place your visiting. Awe-inspired by the fascinating cultural facts surrounding your destination, places to see, food to taste, wines to try. But have you thought about what you’re going to wear?!

Time is valuable — before you go to an elusive, new, and exciting destination it’s always important to read up on it. And, if you’re anything like us, you’ll spend hours planning your ever so important destination outfits. From pairing the perfect sandals for your boho beach babe ‘fit’ on day 2 out of 14 to deciding whether or not you’re going to wear heels and a minidress down that one insta-worthy cobble stone path. So, where can we find the perfect outfit for your once in a lifetime dream vacation? Oh, that’s right — YIREH. From effortlessly beautiful pieces, prints that speak for themselves, and a mission that can inspire the masses, YIREH is the perfect go-to for finding clothes that’ll make you feel good on any day of your vacation. And we got to hear a little bit more about Yireh’s incredible mission and vision from designer, founder and total-lady boss, Emily Jaime.

Tell us more about your brand, team and mission towards being an ethical womenswear brand. 

Today YIREH is a women’s fashion brand that is designed for the modern traveler & everyday woman, with a focus on empowering and encouraging. It all started when I, Emily (designer and owner) moved to Bali, Indonesia in 2013. While there I met a family who were seamstress by trade, and I became  really good friends with them. I wanted to support their business so I ended up designing a pair of shorts (our Pantai Short) and worked alongside them to bring the shorts to life! When I moved back home to Hawai’i I sold the shorts online and they sold out within a few months. So when looking to create and design more, I knew it was important to me that I continue to work in the country that I love, and that I got to personally know the hands that would make and create YIREH, so that is when I turned to ethical manufacturing. Today we partner with two ethical factories, I still design all of the clothing, and work with graphic designers to design the ideas I have for prints! I also have an amazing brand manager Erika who helps with everything from customer service, to writing our blog and newsletter! We are a small but mighty team!

I think it is so important that every life impacted by what I create, is impacted in a positive way. Whether that is through my messaging, the manufacturing, or simply just feeling good when you put on one of our dresses. It is important that the lives of the men/women who make and will wear YIREH are put first. That is why it is so important to me to make sure our clothing is ethically made and wherever we can, sustainable too.

We have a long journey ahead of us until we are fully sustainable. People don’t realize it but there is so much that goes into creating a sustainable brand- especially if you are a start up. For example we purchase biodegradable mailers that are made out of corn. They are 5x more expensive than the regular poly mailers that are more easily available on Amazon. That can be really hard on a small business that has to pinch pennies! Same goes for fabrics, and dyes. We are just in the process of beginning to take a look at where we can make choices to be more sustainable, and where we can set goals for where we’d like to be in the near future.

What’s the most challenging thing about running a small business that is trying to become more sustainable?

The most challenging thing is the cost. Paying fair wages and choosing better materials is not cheap. Often people don’t realize how much goes into running a business, from designing, to sourcing, to sampling, to printing, to pattern making, cutting, sewing, checking, then photographing, and marketing plus all of the inbetweens- it’s a LOT! Then to do it all at a more premium price is not easy. But as I mentioned earlier it is worth it!

When we got to shoot your pieces, we loved how soft and quality your fabrics felt. Can you tell us a little bit more about them?

As we are becoming more aware of our environmental impact I wanted to start slowly adding sustainable fabrics into our collections! I wish I could do it all at once, but since we are still growing, I’m taking it bit by bit. Linen was our first addition and it’s AMAZING! It is a super fabric that is sturdy, lightweight, cool, biodegradable, and doesn’t retain any odors- literally a super fabric. I was basically living in our new linen collection this past summer! As we grow I hope to source responsibly made cotton and find a nice Tencel fabric as well. Right now most of our clothing is made from Rayon, and although rayon is not 100% natural it is derived from wood pulp so I like to think of it as a lesser evil as opposed to polyester.

We noticed how important female empowerment is to your brand, can you tell us why you think it’s so integral for women to feel empowered?

I want women to feel empowered first, and then our clothing to be an added accessory that just confirms it. I feel like for too long the fashion industry has marketed to women’s deepest insecurities and made us feel like we needed to buy something in order to be whole. I am passionate about changing that narrative. This is one reason we create so much content geared towards inspiring and encouraging women. Don’t get me wrong, we are all constant works in progress, we are all going to have down days. But I want our clothing to be a reminder of how strong, beautiful, resilient and capable women are. I think if you are going to invest your money in something you will be making memories in, it should be a positive influence.

Feel good while looking good while traveling good…sounds like a win-win-win to us! Yireh helps us stay conscious while we travel, and look super cute too!

Words: Daevry Calibuso

Models: @anelabech @kaylakanoa