Ariana Barber and Krystal Pina are true women’s advocates. They’re passionate about sustainable, ethically made artisan goods from around the globe and traditional methods of production. They’re friends who have retail management and non-profit experience and who share the desire to create a fashion business in their vision, while regaining their freedom. Freedom to travel and raise kids; freedom to be creative in their own way; freedom to live their lives with purpose by supporting female designers and artisans and giving back to a philanthropy benefiting other women.
They recently read The Artist’s Way and decided to take the “new-day challenge” together, finding their path to manifest their dream of opening their online business, Leo Collective. It’s also where they found the Tolstoy quote that inspired the business name. They seek out cool, obscure global brands for their website (many found through the French trade fair Maison et Objet), including Martine Goron bags and babouches made in France from vintage Moroccan textiles; Mysayang clothing designed and handcrafted in Bali; Iosselliani jewelry with themes taken from literature and handmade in Rome; Macromauro leather bags designed and handmade in Osaka, Japan; Brother Vellies bags and shoes designed in Brooklyn and handmade in South Africa, Ethiopia, and Kenya; and a small-batch apothecary line, Ula Botanic, made with good intentions and all-natural botanicals in Orcas Island, Washington. Log on to leocollective.net to shop their goods, find new lines coming in the fall, and to be kept posted on once-a-month pop-ups around town and the West Coast.
