Father Andrew More O’Connor—parish priest, visual artist and
fashion designer—more than fulfills the clerical sobriquet “man of
the cloth.” Goods of Conscience, his widely praised fashion line-
stylish casual wear in soft, earth-toned and indigo cotton—is the
final product in what he calls “the cycle of charity,” which begins
in Guatemala, where the organic cotton is grown. Next, the hand-
harvested fiber is spun and woven into a soft basket-weave cloth,
or
tela,
by indigenous Mayan weavers working in remote regions
of that country on backstrap looms. Finally, the fabric is shipped
to Father Andrew’s Holy Family parish in the Bronx, where his de-
signs are cut, stitched and sold from his workshop by appointment
and via his website, goodsofconscience.com. According to the
soft-spoken, 47-year-old priest, roughly one third of the proceeds
goes back to Guatemalan craftspeople. The remainder supports
his on-site pattern-maker and staff of local, underemployed sewers,
and contributes to parish projects aimed at children and the needy.
This is hardly your average fashion designer’s business plan, but
Father Andrew has more in mind than cash and couture, or a shot
at
Project Runway
(although his clothes have appeared on runway
models). Committed to the interrelated ideas of sustainability, ho-
listic community relationships, a strong sense of identity with the
product, and local production, he devised Goods of Conscience to
fulfill his vision in which a literal “social fabric” (he has trade-
marked the term) connects and benefits makers of well-designed
clothing. To distinguish his fabric from the common cloth made for
centuries in Guatemala, F ather Andrew has the weavers incorpo-
rate a highly reflective proprietary fiber, which appears in the cloth
as a subtle, luminous cross-like motif. This guarantees, he says,
that it cannot be counterfeited and assures the weavers a living
wage based on their output.
Father Andrew’s casual-chic designs have earned accolades
from no less than
Vogue
editor Anna Wintour, who chose a pair of
his cuffed checked shorts for Cameron Diaz, celebrity cover girl
for the June 2009 issue. The famously eco-conscious Diaz had
requested clothing made exclusively with sustainably grown and
harvested fiber for her sittings. By chance, Father Andrew had
counseled
Vogue
marketing editor Devon Schuster and her fiancé
before their wedding. When the call came from Wintour, Schuster
made the connection with Goods of Conscience—“an act of God,”
says F ather Andrew, with a smile—and the rest was history, duly
noted in the
New Tork Daily News.
To be sure, the Goods of Conscience line is an upscale product
priced for discerning buyers. The now famous “Cameron” shorts
retail for $275, a belted jacket runs $895 and a man’s polo shirt>
Left: Tzutu’hil back-
strap weavers at work
on a light indigo
tela
in a typical home in
San Pedro Crutzan,
a Mayan
aldea,
or town-
ship, in Guatemala’s
Boca Costa.
Above: A stack of
telas
displaying a range of
colors in the Goods of
Conscience workshop.
Opposite: A model
showcases a Pacific
tunic over Cameron
shorts in tattersall.
The shorts are named
after Cameron Diaz,
who wore them on the
June 2009 cover of
Vogue
after requesting
clothing made from sus-
tainably grown fiber.
036 american craft aug/sep io
More at ebook-free-download.net or magazinesdownload.com
Guatemala photos Greg Lord.
