With our current speed of life, we in the West have lost the art of valuing our clothing. Fast fashion has us Australians currently sending 6,000 kilos of textile waste to landfill every ten minutes. We used to treasure our textiles, care for and mend our clothes, pass them on generation to generation. Shopping for new clothing was an occasional event. Something done with thought, care, and love. We would mend, sew, preserve, and pass items of clothing from generation to generation. These old arts are not entirely lost. Many cultures from around the world have managed to preserve the age-old art of creating, weaving, and dying high quality textiles. Inspired by these very cultures, designer Kaidee Peel has built Kultcha Collective. A brand born from the desire to reclaim the old ways and the ways that are more aligned with the higher good of the planet and it’s people. Kultcha Collective is a slow fashion label that seeks to create trans-seasonal and timeless pieces using natural fibres, incorporating trims sourced from her travels all over the world. Living with her family off-grid in the hinterland of Byron Bay, Kaidee is a true embodiment of the the slow fashion philosophy. Her clothing and jewellery are a reflection of this. Ninety per cent Australian made, ten per cent supporting Balinese families.
Kultcha Collective’s new Sumeria jewellery collection seeks to evoke this same reverence for the ancient and connected ways of living. Inspired by mythology of the serpent, which throughout history has been a symbol of fertility, protection, and the continual renewal of life; a silent symbol of hope for the future of our planet. The Sumeria collection comprises of hand made jewellery made of plated gold, silver, and labradorite; a crystal known as the ‘stone of magic’ and protection. Kultcha Collective’s vision is of empowering wearers to step into their own personal magic as we together look toward our collective future as a species; empowered, strong, resilient. There is no question that there is a need to rebirth a new way of existing upon this Earth; a more feminine and intentional way.
x Cat