Today we’d like to introduce you to Veronica Arroyo.
Veronica, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
It all began when I was a little girl in Puerto Rico, Since I could remember, my mom always had me doing creative activities, whether it was drawing or playing dress-up, I loved anything to do with art, makeup, hair, and fashion. At 6-years-old my family moved to Jacksonville Florida, where this little fashion girl turned into a farm girl, I would spend my days out in the fields helping my parents, then I’d get dressed up for school where none of my classmates would guess I had just fed 1,000 chickens before arriving. Although there was a lot of change, I still pursued my dreams of being a fashion designer. I first learned to sew from my Mother, she would make all of our Halloween costumes and decorations, and I quickly gained interest, I started off by making little things for my dolls and pillows, when I reached the age of 13 I began to dabble in making my own clothing, my mom and I would thrift a lot and I started to upcycle all my clothing. I loved the idea of having unique clothes no one else had. My mom taught me all she knew but I wanted to learn more, so I started to watch youtube videos and it came pretty natural to me, although I definitely had my share of fights with my sewing machine due to it constantly jamming.
Entering High School, my school had a fashion program, we learned the basics of sewing and design, which annoyed me since I was already learned all the basics on my own. So I spent all four years helping the other girls in class because I would always finish my assignments faster than everyone else. By 14, I had my first paid internship at my cousin’s job in Jesup, Georgia making Majorette Costumes. From there, the opportunities seemed to open up, I had shown multiple pieces in local fashion shows, at 15 I showed my own mini collections in St. Augustine Fashion Week and even worked with a local designer to make a collection of handbags for her brand. Once I graduated I had my lifelong dream of going to the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City crushed after being denied, not once but twice. I didn’t let that stop me, so I decided to go to Columbia College Chicago, where I had the opportunity to intern with a local Couture designer and learned so much more than I did in school. I had the chance to grow in his atelier but after spending one Ice-cold semester in Chicago I decided it was not for me, I spent most of my life thinking I wanted to be a City girl, though I love the city, the farm girl in me needed to be surrounded by nature so I decided to move to Miami and attend Miami Fashion Institute.
One day I was looking for fashion documentaries to watch and I ran across “True Cost” on Netflix, after watching that my whole world changed; how could an industry that I have dedicated my life to be so destructive to our world!? That didn’t sit right with me, I grew up on an organic farm surrounded by animals and nature, the last thing I wanted to do was have my career harm the environment and humanity as a whole. So I had a change of perspective and began to learn all the ins and outs of sustainable fashion. It was a big change, I took the initiative into a having a fully sustainable slow brand, where I create handmade clothing from deadstock fabrics and upcycled clothing into timeless pieces. I base the foundation of my brand on educating others on the impact the fashion industry has on our environment while also giving back to organizations with monthly donations. It’s been a long journey and with every new thing I learn, it continues to transform my whole lifestyle, it takes time and dedication. Now I can finally pursue my dream of being a fashion designer while making the world a better place.
Has it been a smooth road?
I’m very grateful to say it’s been a pretty smooth road to getting to where I am today, but I still have had my struggles, that is inevitable. Even though I have been doing this for nine years, I still question sometimes if this is what I really wanna do, I’m only 21, my interest could change at any moment, I have always been a hard-working and independent woman that sometimes I forget I’m young and need to focus on not just building my career but remembering to enjoy life. I have had my share of crappy waitressing jobs to save enough money to invest in my business, but no matter what I went through I always kept my goals in mind, running a business is a lot of work especially when you’re doing it all on your own but the universe always had its way of telling me I’m on the right path.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Vaed stands for Veronica Arroyo Eco Designs, which is a sustainable, Ethical, women’s, and men’s Fashion Brand. I create free-spirited tailored clothing, mixed with vintage classic styles, as well as selling 2nd hand Vintage clothing and accessories, all my packaging is plastic-free and made from recycled paper, I hand make my hangtags from my cardboard waste and my labels are made from recycled fibers.
A big problem in the fashion industry is overconsumption, returns, and not paying garment workers fair wages, brands try to make their consumers think they need all these new clothes to keep up with the trends, and whatever doesn’t fit you can return when only 20% of the clothing Americans own is worn and it’s creating a big problem for our environment. Trends always come back and all the clothing that gets returned to these fast fashion brands gets incinerated and dumped in landfills. I make sure to never promote overconsumption and market by saying you need to have this item when you probably don’t; if you want to get it and you think it would be a great addition to your wardrobe then, by all means, support me. I handmake make good quality timeless pieces that you want to keep forever and can style them in various ways. Everything is made to order, you leave your measurements in the notes when you check out so I can make it to your perfect fit.
It doesn’t create a vast amount of waste if something isn’t selling, and almost all the pieces have a lace-up, corset look so it can fit perfectly to your size even if you were to gain or a lose a few pounds throughout the years. It’s a slow process but that is how it should be, garment making is a tedious and laborious skill and fast fashion brands are forcing their employees to make thousands of pieces of clothing every week while paying them little to nothing, the brands have made it normal to the public for a t-shirt to cost so little when in reality the person who made that got paid 3 cents and that is not ok. I want to grow and expand my business but I will be transparent about where I source everything and who is making it, and no matter how big I grow, I will always keep it a Slow process as it should be, fashion was never so harmful but through the decades it became the 2nd most polluting industry in the world today, I plan to be a part of the change that makes it what it once was.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Miami actually has a pretty good sustainable community, I’ve discovered quite a few sustainable brands and there even is a sustainable fashion museum and manufacturing factories with a sustainable outlook. It’s still small but definitely growing. We need to continue to educate others especially in the fashion community that wants to create their own brands on the correct way to do it so we don’t continue to harm the environment and we can slowly rebuild the fashion industry.
Pricing:
- All my 2nd hand Vintage clothing I resell for only a little bit of profit, typically nothing over $30
- My Custom pieces range from $50-$200 depending on the amount of time it takes to make and the materials.
Contact Info:
- Website: vaedva.com
- Email: info@vaedva.com
- Instagram: @vaed_va
- Twitter: @vaed_va
- Other: TikTok @vaed_va
Image Credit:
I Veronica Arroyo photograph style and direct all of my photoshoots.
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