A HEART MADE OF SOMETHING ORGANIC
When you think about the fashion industry and those involved, you may not picture Andrea Plell. Plell is a rare breed with a mission to promote ethical fashion practices and educate the public through her company Ecologique Fashion and REFIX Magazine. Genuine and compassionate about what she does every day - from the way in which she treats others to what she wears - her good nature and intention are what draws people to her. In such a fast-paced industry based on aesthetic, motion, and the sell, it is not often that you meet someone who is more concerned about the impact it is all having on our environment and ultimately each other.
You wear many hats in the ethical fashion industry: Ethical PR, Conscious Messaging, and Creative Services. How did you begin your fashion career and what led you to where you are
today?
I kind of fell into the fashion industry, really. I was working in sales and marketing and going to college full-time for business and felt a real drought of creativity and “soul” in my life. As I was previously an avid sketcher, painter, and writer, I felt the need for constant expression; and that’s when I found art direction and fashion photography - except I wasn’t taking the photos. I started out modeling for local designers and found that I had a knack for artistic concepts, styling, and creating a mood. I
soon took a role behind the camera, directing and styling models of my own in order to create artistic scenes for ethical fashion clients who contracted to work with me. Upon graduation from college, I quit my corporate job and moved from Southern California to the Bay Area on a whim to grow my ethical fashion magazine– REFIX. When I arrived in San Francisco, everything
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ETHICS