'A little bit about me to discover how my dream was born'
Simply Flavia, a bit about me
I love fashion, I love nature, and I love my country.
So I decided to create
something that summarized my passions.
I am Flavia Amato, I am a model maker and clothing designer from Calabria, and in May 2016 I opened Malia Lab, a brand of artisanal organic fashion, in Guardavalle Marina in the province of Catanzaro. To briefly explain how my idea was born, I will give you an overview of my origins. I was born in Calabria, then for study reasons I decided to emigrate as soon as I turned 18 to the Marche region. Here I graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and at 24 I chose to follow my instinct and attend a professional course in model making.
When a single sentence describes your life
"There are always two choices in life: to accept the conditions in which we live or to take responsibility for changing them."
-DENIS WAITLEY
"Everyone in our small way can succeed in changing something. The important thing is to try without ever giving up. Rebuilding and not abandoning the SOUTH is our duty."
"There is nothing easy, you just have to believe in it."
"When I started, I knew there would be many difficulties, but I never gave up. If there is one thing I can advise to those who want to pursue their dreams, it is to never give up. The important thing is to accept that the biggest failure is not defeat, but not having tried."
The choice, the path after training
In the following year, I worked in third-party companies for major brands and completed my professional training. (if that can be said. The truth is that you never stop learning). Coming into contact with such an artificial and untruthful reality (the not-so-clean production process, various tricks to minimize costs, simulation of made in Italy, the more you have, the more you put in), disappointed me greatly, to the point of wanting to leave the company to choose a different path. So I chose to follow a one-year Startup training course with ISTAO, where I was selected among the ten most innovative startups in the Piceno region. My dream was to create an atelier, where I could combine my passions for health, organic products, and fashion, merging them with artisanal manufacturing and an appealing style.
'The return to Calabria, my land'
"I could only return to Calabria, to my land, to create something so important and valuable: a choice made for opportunity, pride, and the desire to demonstrate that my region is more than what people think, and above all to recover and pass on the regional "know how" in textiles. So I packed my bags, took my boyfriend, and traveled 900 km to my old home. Together we renovated an old space in the center of the town, which my parents own, and in those 50 square meters we created a textile workshop, where I produce and realize my collections. Doing business in general is not easy, especially if you are in the south, especially if you are a woman, and especially if you are alone and do not have much money to invest; I put in all the goodwill and commitment I can. In my organic tailoring, I create and sew clothing following ancient tailoring values, to create garments that last over time. Mine is a new concept of fashion: artisanal and sustainable, that looks at the well-being of the body and the environment, but above all that distances itself from consumerism and creates trends itself."
