Behind the Brand: PANA MINA

Where did it all start?

Jay and Eleanore met in 2019 while traveling in South India.  They spent the summer traveling across the Himalayas, fell in love, and decided to start a clothing business later that year.  Their vision was to merge Indian textiles with Western minimal design.  Jay is from Jaipur, India which is a big hub for textiles in Asia, and Eleanore has a background in fashion and marketing.  Even though they didn't have a defined business plan, everything came together quite organically and all fell into place.

How does your clothing process work?

Pana Mina keeps a small inventory on hand of their most popular pieces, but most of their designs are "made-to-order".  After a customer places an order online, they start cutting and sewing right away.  Right now their lead time is 2-3 weeks, which may seem like a long time to wait, but they have found that customers actually enjoy the anticipation and appreciate that their piece was made especially for them.  This model also allows Pana Mina to easily customize the size and style of every piece.

What inspires your designs?

They take most of their inspiration from nature, especially for the colors they choose.  The deadstock fabric, factory discards, that they find also have an influence on their designs.  Searching for fabric is like a treasure hunt, and when they find something good the design ideas start flooding in.  For example, recently of friend of theirs showed them a beautiful ikat fabric, and both Jay and Eleanore thought: pants!

Sustainability: 

Pana Mina is environmentally-focused at every stage of their garments.  From designing timeless pieces, to ensuring they only do small batch, non toxic fabric dyeing.  Even their packaging utilizes biodegradable or re-usable textiles.  They feel that if a brand is sustainably focused it forces business owners to be more creative, extra resourceful, turning what others view as trash into treasure.

Conclusion

Pana Mina is a sustainably focused brand with a passion to bring each person who purchases their clothing something special and unique.

Visit the Pana Mina website here

Or check out their Instagram page

@panamina.official

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