Marrakshi Life
Morocco has long been one of our favourite destinations, for the atmosphere and the lovely people, but mostly for the shopping. The Marrakesh Medina is teeming with the most gorgeous pottery and jewellery. But no one leaves without a Djellaba - the traditional long loose “dress” with a hood, that everyone wears, men and women alike. Just think of Yves Saint Laurent lounging in his Djellaba in his now famous blue Marrakesh home. Lately, Moroccans have been taking their ancients crafts and made the designs more contemporary, with the same spirit. We are happy to introduce this brand to our readers.
About Marrakshi Life:
Launched in 2013 by New York fashion photographer Randall Bachner, Marrakshi Life embraces comfort and craftsmanship. Taking key style elements from the traditional Moroccan wardrobe, an in-house team of local artisans helps create original, contemporary, and wearable design pieces. Using the skill of traditional Moroccan weaving practices and a desire to take this sartorial heritage forward, Marrakshi Life uses ancient techniques to create clothing that is authentic yet with a fashion-forward urban twist.
The brand works exclusively with fabrics that are hand-woven in their atelier, never bringing in outside fabrics. With no cotton production in the country, the team sources the raw cotton material from Turkey + Egypt, then dyed to the Marrakshi Life color palette locally in Morocco. From there, the dyed yarns are spun in the atelier and woven on warp/weft flatbed looms. All of the fabrics and garments are then cut and sewn in the Marrakech atelier.
The vertically-integrated brand adheres to a zero waste policy, a program that takes the remnant cuttings from produced garments to then be used in future development and production – including patchwork pieces, rag weave, home goods, children’s, and accessories. The desirable working conditions and community feel of the workshop encourages free thinking and collaboration within the community atelier. The production process has a low environmental impact, and all of Marrakshi Life’s wood looms are powered by just two men, yielding ten meters per day.
Randall is committed to supporting responsible manufacturing via sustainable, low impact production methods. He describes his atelier in Marrakech as a community rather than a factory. Visitors to Marrakshi Life can experience the family feel whilst viewing the whole process from textile creation to finished design.
