OLIVELA collaborates with designers The Vampire’s Spouse, Jimmy Choo and extra on an unique tablet assortment to beef up women folk’s empowerment

OLIVELA has always been much more than just a luxury fashion e-commerce platform. Created as a force for good, it was originally launched with a mission to help disadvantaged girls get an education. Their latest campaign, Stand With Her, will donate 20% of net proceeds directly to the Obama Foundation Girls Opportunity Alliance, which works to empower girls through education. “OLIVES launched the Stand With Her campaign to highlight some of the most dynamic nonprofits tackling the myriad issues affecting women around the world today, from girls’ education to equality in the justice system and the workplace,” said Maria Milano, Chief Merchant , OLIVES. “The campaign debuted with an exclusive capsule collection from a curation of fashion designers who actively support female empowerment in all its aspects.”

Jimmy Choo, Simon Rocha, Rok spirit, The vampire’s wife, La Double J, Edeline Lee, Stine Goya, Deveaux, Spinelli Kilcollin and Dr Barbara Sturm are just some of the designers and brands participating in the campaign. “The brands we’ve chosen to work with feel as strongly as we do about making a difference in the lives of women and girls around the world,” says Milano. “Those involved in chapter one were all female creative directors and/or founders, while for the second chapter we have broadened it because we believe it is imperative that all members of society, not just women, work to raise women. Everyone our brand partners, not just those involved in Stand With Her, see the importance of supporting our unique model to be a catalyst for change in the fashion industry.”

OLIVELA will launch the second part of the campaign with another crop of exclusive products early next year, which will focus on mobilizing their community to drive change and impact women everywhere. “In today’s world, it’s clear that while talent is evenly distributed, opportunity is unfortunately not,” says Milano. “Our founder, American entrepreneur Stacey Boyd, was uniquely struck by an experience she had visiting refugee camps in Kenya and Rwanda with the Malala Fund, where she saw firsthand that the opportunities we take for granted, such as access to education and healthcare , is especially life-changing for women in low- to middle-income countries. It was the understanding that educating girls can break the cycle of poverty that drove a vision for OLIVELA and the causes we support. This has naturally evolved into our support of several causes that focus on all aspects of female empowerment.”

Stand With Her fits into OLIVELA’s overall mission of conscious shopping. “OLIVELA has since grown to support non-profit organizations in three key pillars, one of which is gender equality,” says Milano. “We launched Stand With Her because right now the fight for equal rights is at every doorstep and we recognize our responsibility to step up. The campaign aims to support our cause partners who are doing the hard work on the ground to offer women the opportunity they deserve to succeed in life.”

The socially conscious consumer will define the retail behavior of the next 20 years, according to a recent survey of the fashion industry by Bain. “OLIVELA pioneered this customer philosophy that is now embedded in our business model – a unique retail concept that drives 20 percent of net revenue from each transaction, at no cost to customers or brands, to its charity partners,” says Milano. “The Stand With Her Campaign advances our mission by changing retail behavior to unite impact and star power in support of important and timely issues.”

The Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance was the perfect partner for the campaign. Nearly 98 million teenage girls around the world are out of school, and the Girls Opportunity Alliance program aims to empower teenage girls through education. “Their goal is to raise awareness, unite grassroots leaders, support community programs and create the spark to help every girl achieve her dreams and her full potential,” says Milano. “The Girls Opportunity Alliance was a natural addition to our portfolio of causes and the perfect partner to highlight our mission to empower girls.”

To support Stand With Her, there will be a multimedia campaign with images and video on OLIVELA’s e-commerce and social media channels, as well as storytelling from each of the brands involved, exclusive influencer content, a street style shoot with the exclusive bit photographed by Tyler Jo, and causes partner support.

“The campaign will culminate in an event in February that will celebrate the impact we have collectively made as a community and will raise awareness of the cause,” said Milano. “The support for the campaign from our partners, including social media coverage and newsletters from our charities, has brought awareness to the cause, not to mention the thoughtful way in which our brands have created impactful content to share with our respective audiences: Stine Goya’s letter to her sons and Edeline Lee’s roundup of women who have inspired her have added an emotional dimension. Plus, working with influencers like Tina Leung and Jenny Lopez has helped reinforce our message.”

Ultimately, the goal of the Stand With Her campaign is to mobilize people to join the cause. “There are countless ways in which our community has mobilized and continues to engage, from engaging on our social channels and spreading the word to purchasing items from our website which in turn provide all important funding for these key causes,” says Milano . “We’ve seen it work – just this year, OLIVELA surpassed the $1 million milestone donation to global humanitarian organization Save the Children, as well as the $500,000 donation mark for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, as a result of customers choosing to transact on our website.”

Of course, having a gorgeous collection for the sake of it is a reminder that fashion can have a profound impact on the world around us, beyond those wearing the capsule collection. That’s why OLIVELA gave designers creative freedom to express themselves.

“The brief was broad because we wanted the exclusive products to reflect each brand and designer,” says Milano. “With some, for example Stine Goyawe had close contact with the color palette, which resulted in lime green capsule which has enjoyed great traction with our customer base and was inspired by the moment Michelle Obama wore their bespoke suit for her Suitable book tour 2019 Mrs. Obama looked powerful and elegant and that was the feeling Stine wanted to evoke in the wearer with his capsule. With others, such as Simon Rocha, these were items hand-picked by the designer to reflect modern femininity, with her signature pearl detailing on pristine cotton separates. Deveaux’s pieces – a beautiful satin suit and a evening dress inspired by the work of Dame Rachel Whiteread – was made locally in New York City by women-owned factories.”

Even Milan itself is looking at a few pieces. “It’s so hard to narrow it down because I love all the pieces, but I have my eye on the white Simone Rocha cropped shirt with pearl collar and the black one Deveaux satin suit,” she says. “I’m personally partial to monochrome pieces though Stine Goya’s lime green blazer and Roksanda’s color-drenched Aura dress might just get me out of my comfort zone.”