Designer and Cuyana co-founder Karla Gallardo grew up in Ecuador, the place the hat was a staple of on a regular basis life. It wasn’t till she left for america that she discovered of the misperception that the model got here from Panama. “I used to be shocked at how a product could possibly be offered in a means that did not honor its origin and its story,” says Gallardo. “There’s simply an enormous distinction between the place the product is made and the place it comes from and what the purchasers learn about it.” To appropriate this, earlier this 12 months, Gallardo and her co-founder, Shilpa Shah, debuted the “This Is Not A Panama Hat” marketing campaign highlighting the model’s origins. “We are literally shifting ahead with that marketing campaign with the aim of a reputation change,” says Gallardo.
