Made to stand the test of time, the sustainable stylish offerings of Peligrosa are a force to be reckoned with. Started by husband-and-wife team Adam Sidell and Nico Morrison, Peligrosa makes tops, bottoms, t-shirts, dresses and more for both men and women in sustainable fabrics. Based in Los Angeles, Peligrosa also donates a portion of their profits to non-profit youth programs and have recently moved 80% of their production back to the United States to reduce their carbon footprint as a brand.

Victoria Everman: Both you and your wife Nico worked in the entertainment industry and Japanese fashion world before teaming up to do an eco-line together. How did you go from you first casual meeting in 2004 to starting a sustainable brand?

Nico Morrison: I’d been working in Japan over ten years and made great contacts along the way.  One of my favorite memories is traveling outside of Nagoya to a farmland owned by Mr. Fujita, a tiny middle-aged man and his wife who operated a handloom in a barn.  He would crank out a new textile every day, and I was fortunate to spend many days with him, drinking tea and brainstorming over unusual plants and how to weave them into fabric.

When I started Mille Nico in 2001, I was determined to make all the textiles in Japan under the same artisan method, no matter the cost.  Our incorporation of Peligrosa was an extension of my experience in Japan and our mutual love of the handicraft approach.  Using organic & sustainable materials made sense, since we’ve always favored natural materials over synthetic manmade fibers and wanted to diminish the toxicity levels of our own apparel production.

Adam Sidell: After meeting, Nico and I designed the last Mille Nico collection (everything was linen and silk).  We fell in love and decided to start a new label that would represent our combined aesthetics and mutual concerns for the environment.  We were doing a lot of private label manufacturing for other companies, and by their insistence for cost sensitivity, visited hundreds of factories and fabric mills in Asia and were fed up with substandard factory conditions, pollution, and waste in the manufacturing process.  We made a conscious decision to reject the status quo, and focus on sustainable, and organic manufacturing.

Where does the company’s name, Peligrosa, originate from? Does it have a special meaning?

Adam: The Spanish translation of peligrosa is “dangerous” (feminine). There’s a very sexy connotation to the word, as well as some underlying sub text. Our Peligrosa woman is provocative – she’s intelligent, strong willed, tempts with her femininity and mind. This is someone who consciously chooses clothing that appeals to her convictions as well as her curves.

It’s dangerous to go against the grain, and follow your dreams. It’s dangerous to take risks, and follow your heart.  As a clothing company, it was dangerous making the decision to be an eco friendly, sustainable clothing collection. We had many friends in the apparel business who thought we were crazy, and destined to fail.

Making goods from organic cotton, organic wool, cashmere and recycled cotton, do you have a particular sustainable fiber that is your favorite to design with? Are there any fibers that you hope to work with in the future?

Nico: I love texture, intricate quilting, and deep, rich colors. Organic cotton absorbs our colors brilliantly, and our recycled cottons have great speckled, slub finishes.  We love the versatility and sustainability of organic cotton, but it’s tough to pick a favorite material. I love everything we work with.  Currently, we’re developing some very innovative textiles in sustainable materials – just wait!  Every season, we come out with a completely new textile – part of what I absolutely love in design.

On Peligrosa’s website, a certain emphasis is put on children and their importance for our planet and our culture. To support these statements, Peligrosa donates a percentage of its profits to the Boys & Girls Club of America – why this particular organization? Have you seen any interesting developments within the organization thanks to your donations?

Adam: It’s thrilling to see so many of our peers contributing net proceeds to environmental causes. It’s really important, and it’s great to see business people getting involved. We felt environmental causes were getting the majority of donations from apparel companies which caused us to rethink our position.

Education is our focus, it’s important to nurture young people so they’ll know from an early age the importance of taking care of our environment. By supporting youth programs, we hope future generations will have the thoughtfulness, education, and training to reverse the damage done to the planet they inevitably will inherit.

Your factories run under strict standards but are not certified fair trade – is that something you hope to pursue in the future?

Nico: Our factories don’t list “certified fair trade” because there is no fair trade certification nor issue in Japan. Japanese labor laws are more stringent than those in the USA.  Our cashmere will continue to be produced in our sister Hong Kong and China mills, both operated and regulated by our Japanese family.  Our internal standards surpass fair trade regulation.

An interesting evolution happening in Hong Kong and Shanghai is the shortage of labor workers and therefore an increased production of sweaters by computer knit, run by university-educated technicians and programmers.  Since the economic explosion in Asia, I foresee less hand machine production in sweaters and more sweaters produced in computer rooms.  This takes away from my artisanal nature, but it does create a modern environment, creates a highly paid work environment, and interests young people into the fashion industry.

Do you see your overseas production as a key part of your business plan or is producing goods in the United States just too expensive?

Nico: We are often asked, “Why Japan?”  It costs us twice to three times as much to produce in Japan than the USA!  However, when we began developing textiles, the organic and sustainable fabric producers in the USA yielded bulky, uneven hemp textiles, rough organic cottons, no refinement.

It wasn’t a consideration for the producers to spin finer yarns. In Japan however, refinement is an important part of their culture, and we could find and build high-count weaves and super fine knits using sustainable materials. From the beginning, we believed fashion has to appeal to a certain aesthetic, and we’ve remained loyal to our friends in Japan who believed in us from the start.

Like most sustainable clothing brands, Peligrosa’s pieces for men and women cost a few hundred dollars each. Are you marketing to a particularly affluent group of consumers or are your prices just a reality of eco-fashion at the moment?

Nico: Our collections retail from $55 to $750 for the longest hand-dyed cashmere. We never believed organic should be elitist, so every season we try to offer the best value for the money. We believe everyone deserves quality clothing that will last.  What good is sustainability if that blouse is last year’s trend, or falls apart after two washes?  It’s a different mindset, but we hope our $160 blouse will be in your closet for 10 years.  And that’s incredibly affordable, don’t you think? Generally speaking, supply and demand for organic and sustainable materials is increasing, so all organic companies’ costs should lower.

 What do you say to the folks that still believe global warming is just a myth?

Adam: Time to wake up! Turn off CNN & Fox News. Read a book. Seek out independent news sources, and pay attention to what’s really going on in our world, both environmentally, and politically. The people who still believe global warming is a myth most likely will not do the above. It’s a tough fight. You gotta’ remember, these are the same people that don’t believe in evolution.

Do you have any other nifty, secret projects in the works that you could hint at?

Adam: Sorry. For now, our nifty projects must remain top secret. Nico and I are working on a few new things we hope to introduce late 2008 and early 2009.  Please stay tuned.

 [Images courtesy of Peligrosa]