NI EN MORE

The Story

NI EN MORE derives from three languages, NI una mas / ikke EN til / not one MORE.

NI EN MORE is a collaborative social innovation project based in Juárez, Mexico; a city where women disappear each year due to unsafe communities, working environments and drug cartels. This project will create a safe, small-scale sewing studio that will empower women locally, by selling the garments globally, combined with promoting awareness against violence towards women.

All profits from NI EN MORE will go back to the community of women in Juárez, to enable economic growth and build safer surroundings and communities.

In the pilot phase we are raising money to:

1.  Finalize the establishment of the studio space in a safe location in Juárez.

2. Buy necessary equipment; sewing machines, tools, cutting boards etc.

3. Pay a fair salary and provide safety to the women involved in the first pilot production.

4. Organize a plant-printing workshop in May 2017 to finalize the first garments.

The goal of NI EN MORE 

1. Create a sustainable business model in Juárez for the production of clothes, that combines handcraft, international design and art to create unique, one of a kind items. 

2. The line of clothes will spread awareness and connect communities locally and internationally in the fight against violence towards women.

3. Create a self-sustained project, and a business model for economic independence and empowerment of women that can become an example for other businesses to follow.

4. Sustain a fresh look and develop new ideas and techniques for its design. We see involving new young designers in the projects future creations as one interesting model for growth.

The City of Juárez The current climate in Juárez is of great uncertainty. Violence peaked at the end of 2016, influenced by rearranging drug cartels, recent U.S. elections, increased border security and a migratory crisis. Despite the success of recent private and public initiatives, disappearances and murders have been increasing the last six years. To learn more please see: ellastienennombre.org

The local women who participate in the NI EN MORE project live in high-risk areas. The current format favors organized crime and therefore leaves women vulnerable and without the necessary resources for decent housing or transportation. It is important to emphasize that these women are made vulnerable because of their gender, color and social class.

“I have loved everything that we have done until now, and above all, each one of us now has a voice, and a voice in this project. Our ideas are heard and seem meaningful” Isabel, Juárez (participant in NI EN MORE’s first workshop).

The Look and Production The garments will be printed and dyed with real flowers and plants found locally in the Chihuahua district in Mexico. This is an on trend, yet sustainable and eco-friendly process, where no hazardous chemicals are used.

The flower printing technique creates a truly unique expression that comes to life on the four modern and feminine styles we have chosen to produce at the sewing studio in Juárez.

“This project seems very interesting to me as it has a bigger voice and meaning in my community. I have the idea that the people engaged in the project can train more people in the future, which is why we all have to be well prepared and have good quality on the clothes that we make” Elide (Juárez production team).

NI EN MORE’s Advantage 

NI EN MORE’s team of people bring together skills from art, fashion, activism, and work for social change, and has deep connections to the local community in Juárez.  

The artist Lise Bjørne Linnert has worked in Juárez for 11 years with her project “Desconocida Unknown”, a mass collaboration, embroidering nametags to protest murders and abuse of women in Juárez and in remembrance of similar crimes globally.

Fashion designer Tine Mollatt has developed her fashion company from a small-scale business to a global success. She brings her expertise from business to marketing and design.

Lena Kathrine Knudsen has a long career in the fashion industry in which she has gained a broad and deep understanding of the industry.

NI EN MORE’s project leader in Juárez ; Veronica Corchado, has more than 30 years of experience as a human rights activist. She is the director of Chihuahua’s Municipal Institute for women as well as a director of a cultural community center. Thus, she knows her community and its needs, and will ensure that the projects future profits are used in the best possible way. 

Through Enlightaid and its transparent model for crowd funding, our goal is to have NI EN MORE’s first line of clothing available at NI EN MORE Webshop late fall 2017.