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All she knew was that she had a passion for design and for the environment- so she started there. Maiya could not afford to buy fabric, so she began to use any materials that she could find around her house- curtains, tablecloths, shower curtains, bathmats, Christmas trees and old clothes. She realized she had a passion for reusing and recycling unusual materials and making them into beautiful designs. As she began studying her craft, she also began learning about the large amount of waste pollution generated by the fashion industry. Despite being a relatively easy waste stream to recycle, the environmental and social impacts of disposable clothing is alarming. An estimated 93% of all textile waste in Ireland alone, home to House of Maiya, is sent to landfills and produces detrimental environmental effects.
Maiya decided she was going to focus on changing that statistic and with instrumental encouragement and support from her mother, the mother/daughter duo created a business in which they use fashion as a vehicle to raise awareness and support meaningful causes. She fused her love for the environment with her passion for fashion and started creating her haute couture designs. "We also happen to love the planet we live on and have combined our love of both (fashion and the environment) to create beautiful, creative, innovative, ethical designs. By reusing and recycling textiles, we can reduce these effects and the need for landfills." Maiya hopes to change the way we as a society view recycled clothing, behave as consumers and manage textile waste.
The House of Maiya was established as a brand in 2013 by a (then) ten-year-old fashion designer. She won her first award in 2013 and since then her ethical and sustainable fashion brand has been winning awards every year for her business model and for her designs. Her designs have been featured in publications such as Vogue, Maganda, MilliOnAir and Irish Glamour, to name a few. They have also been showcased on catwalks all over the world, and she counts several celebrity designers as mentors. House of Maiya is a brand that promotes and practices sustainable fashion and cultural diversity.
changing the statistics
CON'T