Proxy Apparel is an ethical fashion company dedicated to empowering women through fashion.
We believe in a sweat-shop free, equitable world and we are passionate about fashion as a vehicle for social change.
Proxy's mission is to empower and employ women in a sweat-shop free, sustainable world and this mission drives our daily efforts and we are working to infuse it into every aspect of the Proxy brand.
+Design
Proxy supports emerging designers and businesses by bringing their products to market.
Proxy empowers consumers by offering fashion-forward, socially responsible apparel. We believe that being socially responsible should not come at the expense of great fashion and that the Proxy woman should both look great and wear the change she seeks in the world.
Proxy's founder Heatherjean has long envisioned that she would one day start a business that fights poverty. She spent her twenties working with women's groups to start small businesses in rural Latin America and was continually moved by their will and ability to build something from nothing. While most of the groups that she worked withs started small agricultural businesses, Heatherjean pondered a scaleable business model that would bring jobs to women in rural communities in the developing world. During a long bus ride through the Peruvian mountains, she observed local people raising and sheering llamas and spinning wool. She realized that the apparel supply chain -- from fiber, to knit, to dye, to cut + sew -- offered ample opportunities for job creation an community development. Her dream crystalized when she discovered that she could merge her passion for fashion and social entrepreneurship. To foster her vision, Heatherjean headed to business school in Boston and has been building the company since 2007.
Heatherjean chose the name Proxy when she realized that her apparel company was presenting a proxy, an alternative to the marketplace: substituting conventional, factory-made apparel for fashion-forward, socially responsible clothing and accessories. She further knew it was the right name for the company when she was asked to translate "proxy" to the women of the Nueva Vida sewing cooperative in Nicaragua. Proxy in Spanish, apoderado/a translates to one that is empowered.
When Heatherjean began writing her business plan she had a dream of a bright, fluorescent green and magenta hummingbird. The dream inspired her to use a hummingbird in the Proxy logo, as they are feminine, powerful, beautiful creatures. A few weeks later, Heatherjean traveled to Guatemala to visit cooperatives. Her first stop was the UPAVIM Cooperative located in a squatter settlement outside of Guatemala City. The women invited Heatherjean to stay in a room located on the roof where they had built a lovely garden. When she arrived, she noticed that there was a small hummingbird living in the garden: the same hummingbird as in her dream.
