Meet The Designer: Florencia Dávalos

At the intersection of fashion, art, and sustainability, Florencia “Flo” Dávalos established her eponymous womenswear label in 2014 to expand the boundaries of contemporary expression. Since then, she’s been designing daring shapes and silhouettes for women of all shapes and sizes, accented by artistic hand-drawn prints, intricate embroidery, and unique textile combinations. With a forward-thinking approach to fashion rooted in zero-waste practices, Flo is pushing the boundaries of clothing and materials. We sat down with her to discover more about her brand and vision for the future of fashion.

K: Where do you find inspiration for your collections?
F: I find inspiration from color, nature, music, my farm, family and friends – everything that I love. My team here at the studio also inspires me every day.

K: What is feeling-wear?
F: Feeling-wear is fashion, art, and energy. It’s a concept we created to describe our garments that encompasses a range of characteristics from texture to shape, fit, colors, and patterns. I believe it also includes our story and traceability. When you wear our clothes, you feel good – that’s the essence of feeling-wear.

K: You’re both the designer and the CEO of your brand. How do you balance your time between the two?
F: I do my best! I love my work, my creations, and my team, which makes work fun. I can work for 12 hours a day and not notice that I've been working for so long. Hard work pays off. I wear a lot of hats, but try to keep the design and business sides separate by allotting time for each.

K: As a designer and artist, is it possible to create anything that you can imagine?
F: Yes and I do most of the time. We are fortunate enough to have the tools and knowledge to experiment and create solutions for our designs.

K: Why do you design specifically for women and why is this important?
F: Growing up as a woman, I never felt completely comfortable with my body. I was looking at commercials and fashion campaigns in the ‘90s of women who were so thin and it unfortunately impacted my self-confidence. I think the messages pervading our society make us believe in stereotypes that don’t encompass most women.
My goal is now to subvert that by making women of all sizes feel amazing in their own skin. Women are so powerful – we have the capacity to create life and do anything we want to do. By making women’s fashion more inclusive, we are creating a positive force that can alter societal views. Through fashion everything is possible.

"Women are so powerful – we have the capacity to create life and do anything we want to do. By making women’s fashion more inclusive, we are creating a positive force that can alter societal views. Through fashion everything is possible."

Florencia Dávalos

K: What’s your favorite city in the world to travel to?
F: I love Madrid. It’s full of color, inspiring things to do, and beautiful places to discover. I could never be bored there.

K: What would you be if you weren’t a fashion designer?
F: A textile designer or an art gallery curator.  

K: What were your favorite pieces to design?
F: I love all the reversible garments that I created over the years. I think that those pieces solidified my identity as a designer and the concept behind my brand.

K: As a fashion designer, how do you define your role in society?
F: The aim of my brand has always been to contribute to society in some way, but helping women that are the providers in their homes motivates me. It is important to me to create clothing that includes every body type and doesn't contribute to hegemonic standards and societal expectations of women.

K: What do you see for the future of your brand?
F: We’re already breaking standards in the Ecuadorian fashion industry and my goal is to continue to grow and spread our vision internationally.