Loewe, the Madrid based subsidiary of LVMH, in collaboration with Knot On My Planet, launched a limited edition collection of its iconic Elephant Mini Bag in Tan, featuring beadwork by Samburu women from Northern Kenya. The collection was launched exclusively on loewe.com only, and in Bergdorf Goodman on July 16, 2018.
Loewe will donate all proceeds of the Elephant Bag sales to the Elephant Crisis Fund, to provide rapid, catalytic support for the most effective projects designed to stop the killing of elephants, thwart traffickers and end the demand for ivory.
Loewe travelled to Kenya to work with women from the Samburu Workshop at Ol Malo, in the heart of Samburu, who meticulously handcrafted the beadwork. The Samburu Workshop is the heart of the Samburu Trust, which is a non-profit organisation that engages the traditional authority of elders to help improve the lives of the Samburu people, securing their land and wildlife for a shared future.
The beadwork project was born 15 years ago during a terrible drought, which left the women and children to fend for themselves while the men went off with their cattle to graze. The beadwork project gives the women viable work which enables them to sustain their families and community.
The Samburu people in Northern Kenya share a special relationship with elephants and work closely with the Kenya-based elephant research and conservation organisation, Save The Elephants, to protect them.
Save The Elephants, and the Wildlife Conservation Network launched a joint initiative in partnership with the Leonard DiCaprio Foundation called the Elephant Crisis Fund (ECF).
The ECF runs a 100% donation model with every dollar raised directly deployed to elephant conservation projects in the most critical hotspots of Africa and Asia. It has, thus far, funded 185 projects by 59 partners in 31 countries across Africa and the world. From supporting investigations into the illegal ivory trade markets of East Asia to assisting with aerial operations and intelligence networks in the frontline battles for elephants, the ECF has deployed more than $13 million in just four years. The ECF is unique in that 100% of donations go directly to the partners in the field, on the front line in the battle against elephant poaching.
The Elephant Mini Bag is being sold in collaboration with the Knot on My Planet (KOMP) campaign to support the ECF. KOMP is a campaign born in fashion and powered by influencers with the goal to bring elephant poaching and the ivory crisis to the forefront of the conversation by leveraging influencers, companies and brands within the fashion and luxury industries while raising money for the Elephant Crisis Fund (ECF).
KOMP plays on the age-old act of tying knots to remember and the elephants’ uncanny ability to remember. Co-founded by Trish Goff and David Bonnouvrier, with Doutzen Kroes as its Global Ambassador, KOMP launched its first social media initiative on Sept 9th, 2016 garnering over 1.5 billion impressions via Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat. To date, KOMP has raised over $3mm for the ECF.
The KOMP campaign, created by You and Mr. Jones, has a growing list of corporate partners and supporters including Tiffany & Co, Ivory Ella, Clinton Global Initiative, Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, Snapchat, PR Consulting, Edelman, Raf Simons, Ralph Lauren and Doutzen Kroes, who has enlisted the support of Joan Smalls, Jordan Barrett, Lily Aldridge, Cara Delevingne, Gigi Hadid, Candice Swanepoel, Derek Blasberg, Karlie Kloss, Behati Prinsloo, Carolyn Murphy, Linda Evangelista, Emily Ratajkowski, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and many more.
