Sharing Our Story

Hello, my name is Sophia and I am the founder of La Sierra. I really wanted to share a little bit about how and why this brand began, why it exists, so it can help you confidently share our story with your customers and community.

So I founded La Sierra in twenty sixteen after a life changing trip to South America. So I traveled there in twenty fourteen and just connected very deeply with the people and the culture and the music and the food and just the simplicity of a lot of the way of life there. And I ended up living on that side of the world for a year. And it was at this time, amongst in this new place, that I just felt this true aliveness inside of me. And it really sparked in me wanting a different way of living for myself. It was also during this time that I met my first artisan and first touched the Alpaca fibre. And I still remember that moment so clearly.

It was just a simple jumper that I found a local market, but it felt so incredibly warm and it just brought me this immediate feeling of comfort and it just really stirred something inside of me. And I knew I wanted to bring this fiber back to my home country of Australia. 

So everything started from there. With no fashion background or no business background, I never planned to have this business or brand. It just all started out with a love for a foreign land and a deep cultural immersion and a love for these people and, you know, the discovery of this very soft and beautiful natural fiber that I wanted to share with the world. And after a few years, I really started to learn about the sustainability behind this fiber, which I'll explain later. And I also started traveling back and forth from Australia to Peru, in Ecuador, and developed a really deep connection with our makers.

And we've evolved so much over the years. And now we collaborate with about twelve to fifteen different artisans, mostly in Peru, a couple in Ecuador. We value working with all indigenous artisans and we also value with working with small families and communities as well, which I'll explain more about later. But really, over this last decade, we have built such a deep, caring, reciprocal relationship with our makers. And we are very passionate about ethical and sustainable production.

And at its core, I really want La Sierra to exist, to invite people to slow down. And this starts with a connection to self, a connection to others, and a connection to the natural world around us. Because I really believe that we're all interconnected and what we wear can really support how we feel. And our pieces are designed to feel comforting and grounding and timeless, while also feeling stylish and effortless and have the quality to last a lifetime.

And another little fun fact, if anyone asks, La Sierra is actually the term, the local term used for the Andes highlands in South America, which is where all of our indigenous artisans are. And it's the place that is native to the Alpaca. So it's a perfect name if you ask me.

Thank you for taking the time to learn a bit of our story and to share this with your community.