Originally published on Broadsheet
Photography: Saskia Wilson
Australian sleepwear and loungewear label ALAS has teamed up with local artist Nadia Hernandez to produce a capsule collection of sustainable bedwear.
ALAS stands for All Light, All Shadow. The brand is committed to transparent, sweatshop-free manufacturing in Jaipur, India.
"You can see the immediate positive impact," says Kelly Elkin, one half of ALAS, about the label’s manufacturing ethos. She and co-founder Betony Dircks recently visited the tight-knit team of machinists and pattern makers behind the label’s organic-cotton garments.
Nadia Hernandez was born in Venezuela, grew up in Arizona in the US and is now based in Sydney. A longtime friend of Elkin and Dircks, she shares a similar global awareness, which comes out in her work; sculptures, prints and paintings that she makes in her St Peters studio.
“The aim of my art is to bring people together, to create parallels between my memories and current events happening in Venezuela,” she says. In her most recent work, a screen print titled El Comelón / The Big Eater, a large red “monster” is gorging bananas, grapes and other fruits. It’s representative of the current Venezuelan government regime, which is responsible for shortages of basic food items across the country.
For the ALAS collaboration, Hernandez has created the Plant Disguise print. Aztec-inspired shapes feature in cool tones of navy and green to create a hypnotic design that “eases your mind into sleeping”, as Hernandez puts it.
Using formaldehyde-free inks, Plant Disguise is printed on pyjama sets and unisex boxer shorts. Wrapping up the range is a cozy, reversible, quilted robe, which could easily double as a lightweight coat in spring. The collection is made with breathable organic cotton sateen.