Discover Pachama, the brand that Ivanka Trump visited in Argentina

Pachama was founded as a family business almost six years ago in San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina. It sells clothing for men, women and children with “a style that mixes native with modern” as defined by Alejandro Polo, one of its founders. Last week, Ivanka Trump visited the company during her tour through Latin America.

The history of Pachama

“Our family is the owner of the brand that was founded almost six years ago. My mother has been sewing for more than four decades and we already had the idea of having a venture at some point,” said Polo, who is also head of the company's marketing.

Pachama was presented for the first time in an exhibition held at the Mitre Theatre in San Salvador de Jujuy. “We had only five shirts. As it happened, a well-known folk music band had some photos taken wearing our designs. That was the beginning,” Polo recalls.

The name Pachama was created in reference to Pachamama, the goddess of the earth and fertility, revered in northern Argentina and some highland countries. Today it has a point of sale in the capital of Jujeña and its management and production is carried out entirely by the Polo family.

What's the brand like?

Pachama clothing is known for its details of aguayo, a garment originating from the highlands, usually very colourful and traditionally used by indigenous people. “We are working so that the garments are serialized rather than by collection. We have submitted almost 368 registered designs of which we shall only have made 20 percent. Due to a matter of combinations and where the aguayo would go we have a variety of ways to play with the design. In addition, we work with various materials from poplin to denim,” explained Polo.

In its store, the company has fashion collections for men and women, and for now only work on demand. “They are more detailed about what they want, although it has occurred that because of Ivanka Trump's visit, many women came to the place and took men's shirts for them”.

Ivanka Trump in Argentina

The daughter of the US President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, was in the province of Jujuy as part of a tour she did to promote female economic empowerment. During her trip she held meetings with women in charge of different enterprises who are trained in financial matters and who receive microcredits from non-governmental organisations such as ProMujer. This agency receives financial support from Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an agency of the US government.

Alejandro's mother, Etelvina Acevedo, has been in ProMujer for 14 years and always used microcredits for her small expenses. She was in charge, with her daughter Monica, of receiving Ivanka Trump at the brand's store. “Nobody told us anything about the visit until the last moment. During the visit, she was very kind to us, she looked around and was interested in all our clothes,” Polo said.

Pachama said it was happy with the visit due to the visibility it offered them as a fashion brand.

The original version of this interview was published on FashionUnited NL. The text has been translated and edited for an international audience.

Photos: Alejandro Polo, Pachama