Carna Fernández

Carla Fernández

Carla Fernández is a fashion house based in Mexico City dedicated to preserving and revitalizing the textile legacy of indigenous and mestizo communities of Mexico. The brand’s vision in regards to manual methods proves that ethical fashion can be innovative, avant-garde and progressive.

An agency of change and innovation, bringing new meaning to luxury fashion, the Carla Fernández team travels the throughout Mexico visiting communities of artisans who specialize in handmade textiles and centuries-old indigenous techniques. The approach of the brand to these communities is contributing to sustaining ancient indigenous techniques and the people who collaborate with it.

Carla Fernández works in creative and productive collaboration with artisans in each project; techniques such as embroidery or manual weaving are an integral part of the design and production of new pieces and collections. In 2013, Carla was one of 11 globally awarded Amsterdam-based Prince Clause Awards, which recognizes artists whose cultural actions have a positive impact on the development of their communities. We have also had solo exhibitions at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, MA / Jumex Museum in Mexico City / Heath Ceramics in San Francisco, CA / SIFA The O.P.E.N. Festival in Singapore; and group exhibitions at the MAD Museum, New York; Iturbide Palace and Amparo Museum in Mexico City, among others. In addition, the company is a B Corp, a certification that guarantees that best practices are implemented in all areas of the company.

The brand has been featured in publications such as Elle, Vogue, i-D, * wallpaper, T The New York Times magazine, among others.

Square Root

In the Western tailoring system, encoded in cuts and curves, what predominates is the silhouette of the person wearing the clothes, rather than their fabric or history.

But Mexican indigenous clothing results from the joining together of square and rectangular panels. It’s a unique textile origami that uses these two figures as the base from which to construct any other form using folds, pleats and stitching.

This system of patterning interests us for both its vernacular significance, which we consider the path to the future, and for its constructive and architectural quality.

The geometric clothes worn by indigenous women can be read like open books that tell the life stories of the weavers who made them. If a page were cut out, or divided with seams, it would be impossible to read the entire narrative.

We gave this system the name “la raíz cuadrada,” the square root, because we work with the roots of Mexico and this way of patterning as tools of design.

Sustainability

Since 2018, Carla Fernández has been a certified B Corporation, part of a global community of businesses working to redefine the meaning of success.

B Corp promotes an economy where success is measured not only by financial results, but by the well-being of people, communities, and the environment. Through B Lab, the nonprofit organization that develops the certification standards, companies are rigorously evaluated across four key areas: governance, workers, community, and environment.

For us, this certification was not an endpoint, but the beginning of an ongoing process of evaluation and improvement. At Carla Fernández, we continuously seek spaces to question what we do, how we do it, and how we can do it better. Our manifesto establishes a clear position, but we understand that the real challenge lies in translating those beliefs into concrete and measurable practices.

Over the years, B Corp certification has provided us with a structured framework to align our decisions with our purpose—from our relationships with the artisan communities we collaborate with, to the way we operate internally as a team.

Being part of the B Corp community implies a constant commitment: to make decisions considering their long-term impact on society and the environment, and to remain actively engaged in continuous improvement.

Today, more than ever, we reaffirm this commitment. We continue to build a company that seeks to create value in a holistic way, as part of a global network demonstrating that business can be done differently.

Artisan Network

We work with artisans from all over Mexico, that are specialized in creating textiles and handcrafts. We’ve been studying the DNA of indigenous garments and ancient techniques for a long time. We apply methods that are familiar to artisans, many of which are the same that have been used from pre-hispanic times, to create new designs.

Our team

We believe that to successfully work with the best artisans, we also need to excel in-house to produce the best fashion.

Carla Fernández – Creative Director

Cristina Rangel – Director of Operations

William Taswell III – Head of Design Operations and Product Development

Erin Lewis – Head of Design

Adriana Celis – Human Resources

Carlos Godínez – Creative Designer

Adrián Galindo – Graphic Design

Diego Morales – Community Manager

Lino Montalvo – Production Coordinator

Paulina García – Cutting Specialist

Angélica García – Sample Maker

Patricia Corona – Patternmaking

Isaías Paz – Patternmaking Assistant

Sebastian López – Production Assistant

Joshua Ramos – Special Sales

Jazbeth Vélez – Commercial Administration

Cesar Ureña-Taswell – Store Manager

Keny Yazer – Store Supervisor

Isabella Fernández – Administrative Assistant

Mónica Silva – Store Supervisor

Janet Castro – Sales Associate

Paola Solano – Sales Associate

Christopher Mireles – Sales Associate

Víctor Valenzuela – Sales Associate
Sergio Escobar – Sales Associate

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