Lis Luis

Founder · Ethical fashion & campaign · 2014–2016

No Sloths Were Harmed

An ethical clothing brand and the #NoSlothsWereHarmed campaign, built from the supply chain up.

RoleFounder, designer
PartnersQuechua weavers, a North Carolina factory
Sold inUS, UK, Germany, Spain, Australia
Years2014–2016
5 countriesCustomers in the US, UK, Germany, Spain and Australia, sold direct online.
8 citiesSupporters shared #NoSlothsWereHarmed from Brooklyn and LA to Berlin, Manchester, Madrid and Costa Rica.
Worn by LissieThe singer-songwriter wore it on Instagram to promote ethical fashion to her followers.
Lis kneeling beside Quechua weavers in traditional dress and hats, holding a handwoven textile.
With Quechua weavers in the Sacred Valley, Peru.

It started with Maria, a rescued sloth in the Amazon. Meeting her, I decided to make clothes that cause no harm to the places animals like her live.

Lis holding Maria, a rescued three-toed sloth.
Meeting Maria.
Lis in a wooden boat on a river in the Amazon rainforest.
On the river in the Amazon.

The gap

Most fashion hides where it comes from. I wanted every piece to be traceable, from the people who made the fabric to the farm that grew the cotton, and to turn that transparency into the brand itself.

How I built it

  1. A Quechua weaver at a backstrap loom.Handwoven textilesCommissioned custom fabrics from Quechua weavers in the Andes, sourced through Awamaki, a fair-trade nonprofit in Ollantaytambo, Peru.
  2. Models in skirts made from bright Andean fabrics.Andean skirt collectionDesigned a skirt collection around those traditional fabrics.
  3. Folded white t-shirts with a hand-drawn wildflower print.Traceable cottonLaunched a t-shirt line made from cotton traceable to the farm it was grown on.
  4. Wildflower t-shirts being screen printed at the North Carolina factory.Cleaner productionPartnered with a North Carolina factory that uses water-based dyeing.

Awamaki partners with women-led Quechua artisan cooperatives around Ollantaytambo. About Awamaki.

A weaver in a traditional red hat working at a loom on the grass.
Bowls of natural dye ingredients.
Yarn being dyed in a pot over a wood fire.
Hand-dyed yarn in many colors laid out on a textile.

Natural dyeing and weaving with Quechua artisans in the Sacred Valley.

The campaign

I named the brand after the classic film disclaimer, so the hashtag did the explaining. Supporters posted the wildflower tee from wherever they were, and singer-songwriter Lissie wore it on Instagram to promote ethical fashion to her followers.

Eight photos of people wearing the wildflower tee, each captioned #NoSlothsWereHarmed with a place: Brooklyn, Berlin, Manchester, Bristol, Manhattan, Los Angeles (Lissie's Instagram post), Madrid and Costa Rica.
#NoSlothsWereHarmed in Brooklyn, Berlin, Manchester, Bristol, Manhattan, LA, Madrid and Costa Rica.

Where it went

Sold across three continents

I sold direct to customers online and travelled to Europe to promote the brand in person.

  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • Germany
  • Spain
  • Australia
  • Denmark · promoted

Who spread it

Musicians, advocates, friends

Lissie, plus musicians, influencers and sustainability advocates in the US and Europe, wore the pieces and shared why it mattered.

What I did

  • Founded and ran the brand across design, sourcing, branding, community and marketing.
  • Built a traceable supply chain from Andean weavers to a US factory.
  • Created the campaign and the #NoSlothsWereHarmed hashtag.
  • Took it international, selling in five countries and promoting it in Europe.

What it taught me

A brand is a promise you can prove. Every claim on the label had a person or a place behind it, and that habit of making the story match the system has followed me into every product since.