My story
Llacta is a Kichwa word for home. I made it a place for everyone, built from the warmth of the fiber, the sweater, the people, and the land where it all begins.
A piece of Ecuador, shared with the world
Llacta is the brand I've dreamed of for years, and my heart built into something you can wear. It is my love letter to Ecuador. I live in the United States, but my heart stays in Ecuador, and this is how I carry it with me: by sharing its culture, its landscapes and its people with the world, and with everyone who appreciates artesanías.
Ecuador has extraordinary artisans, and what they make deserves a place beside the finest things in the world. Everything in Llacta is made there, by artists I work with, and every piece is curated and made with care, love and passion. Each sweater is a small way of giving back to the country and the community that saw me grow up, and a little piece of me, offered to you.
Why I started
I grew up in Ecuador, and I grew up watching the distance between lives. In the cities there was opportunity. In rural communities there were people with extraordinary skill and very little access to opportunities, and I never stopped thinking about that.
I always wanted to give back in some way. Llacta is how: a way to honor the craft, to share these hands with the world, and to send a part of every sale back to the communities that watched me grow up and taught me to value the work of their hands.
Where Llacta comes from
Ecuador is a small country on the northwest coast of South America, named for the equator that crosses it. The Andes run through its center, lined with snow-capped volcanoes, and the highlands sit between mountains and sky.
Llacta is made in Otavalo, in the province of Imbabura, in the northern Andes, about two hours north of Quito and high above the sea at roughly 2,500 meters. Days are mild and sunny, and nights turn cool, which is exactly the weather a baby alpaca sweater was made for.
Kichwa is the language of the Indigenous peoples of the Ecuadorian Andes, a living member of the Quechua family. The Kichwa Otavalo people are known around the world for their weaving and knitting, and Otavalo has been a textile town for generations. That is why the name of this brand is Kichwa: llacta means home, village, homeland.
My people, and their hands
Every Llacta piece is hand-knit by tejedoras in Otavalo, in the province of Imbabura, where the craft is passed from one pair of hands to the next.
I work with these artists directly, in small batches, and make each style in limited numbers, so that every sweater is made with time and care. It is slow work, and you can feel it.
The warmth of the fiber
Llacta is knit from baby alpaca, one of the softest and most resilient fibers in the world, raised in the high Andes. It is light, it is warm, and it lasts.
Each piece is named for a volcano that watches over the places I come from: Cayambe, Imbabura, Mojanda, Cotacachi and Cotopaxi.
The soul of the brand
The Llacta isotype gathers symbols of the Andean worldview: the sun, the volcanoes, and a counterform inspired by Cotopaxi, where the moon shapes the silhouette of a human head. It is the bond between nature and who we are.
It also shows an artisan in the act of creation, a tribute to the manual traditions of the region I come from. Llacta is a bridge between the richness of the past and the creativity of today.
Giving back
Everything in Llacta is made in Ecuador, and part of what I earn goes back to it. Five percent of net sales supports the education of women in rural communities, the people and the place that watched me grow up and taught me to value the work of their hands.
A home with room for everyone.
With love from Ecuador, Daniela