De La Vali: Behind The Brand

Ibizan raised life-long friends Jana Haveman and Laura Castro founded womenswear RTW label, De La Vali in 2017. Upon first meeting, the pair recognised an instant connection both personally and creatively as they began designing small collections inspired by an awareness and shared appreciation for the bohemian culture and captivating surroundings they grew up in. De La Vali was initially created when the duo noticed a gap in the market for luxe, statement pieces that could transcend from beach to bar and party, with versatility at the core of each striking wardrobe stand out. Each DLV piece owns an alluring quality with considerations of spontaneity and the ‘free-spirited’ Island life of which the brand heritage is best known for at the forefront of every design.

The founders' natural shared vision and aesthetic runs throughout the design process, resulting in a joyous partnership. Jana initially sketches the dresses and together they embark on the process of developing each concept and building the collection.

Now overseeing a small in-house team and one or two valued freelancers the Vali family is slowly expanding. Each signature DLV print is lovingly developed in house and always in limited edition. The aim was to create an inclusive brand for all women to enjoy but still offering exclusive products, not overproduced or oversupplied.

DLV celebrates femininity, always paying special attention to the cut and silhouette of each style to ensure confidence while flattering the female shape. Each sample is meticulously fitted, cut and progressed in house by our treasured freelance pattern cutters.

The brand is now as deep rooted in its London base as much as it’s Ibizan heritage,

“our team are situated here – we have grown a small community of ‘like minded’ creatives on our doorstep and it works really well, even in the initial stages of starting the brand we knew that in order to evolve Vali into a credible and successful label we would need to relocate to the iconic city that had so greatly inspired our design aesthetic.”

But why the name, DE LA VALI? the brand is an ode to their muse, "Vali Myers" a visionary artist, dancer and bohemian whose extroverted and vivacious way of being captivated all who she encountered. She was bold, unapologetic and unashamedly expressive of who she was. Vali remains a positive role model that greatly inspires each and every DLV collection. Still tightly woven throughout the brand DNA is a simple but strong mission, to create styles that encourage you to feel confident, vivacious and empowered.

OUR BRAND ETHOS

We have always been passionate about making an environmental difference and contributing to a more successful and sustainable future, we understand that this earth needs great attention and vast improvement - fashion is a great platform to motivate and inspire positive change within the ‘ever evolving’ world we are living in.

We make sure we dedicate time to visit each and every one of our factories building trust and strong relationships with them, we will only work with factories that ensure positive and ethical working conditions throughout. Further to this point we are constantly mindful when it comes to reducing our carbon footprint, shipping goods by sea freight rather than air and considering the location of fabrics when sourcing them to reduce importation.

Our factories work collaboratively with us to further our ideas in terms of sustainability and will always endeavour to source innovative and recycled fabrics for us. We try to use as many sustainable fabrics as possible such as recycled cottons and fabrics made of rose petal and orange fibre. Please find more information about our fabrics within our product descriptions. We limit wastage by using every last piece of our meterage and brainstorm creatively every season on ways to rework exclusive fabrics and prints, breeding new life into otherwise ‘dead stock’ or ‘cabbage’.

As a young company we are constantly improving the way we work and the processes we have in place. Really this is only the start of our journey, we are aware that some adjustments may take a little time, but we are fully committed to learning and developing as a brand and implementing positive change as we grow.