Ayacucho®, the A.S.Adventure private label in cooperations with Solid
A success story for all involved
A.S.Adventure works together closely with Solid, a Belgian development organisation that sets up projects to combat global poverty. Since 2000, Solid, with the support of the business community, has been investing in sustainable community development and in the intensive training and supervision of vulnerable groups – initially with a focus on the Peruvian Ayacucho region, but now also in Kenya and India. This allows the local residents to acquire knowledge and take control of their own lives.
A noble and sustainable project – one that A.S.Adventure is proud to be a part of. How? It’s simple. Since 2009, every product from the Ayacucho® collection that is sold generates new funds for Solid's existing projects and for new initiatives.
Personal perspective: our Ayacucho immersion tours
Every year, we try to organise an immersion trip where customers and employees can discover the projects in person. This allows them to witness the people’s conditions of life on the spot, to roll up their sleeves and to be fully immersed in the local culture. Afterwards, they can tell the story as real Ayacucho ambassadors.
Get inspired!
2015
Immersion trip Ayacucho Peru
2017
Immersion trip Ayacucho Peru
2018
Immersion trip Ayacucho Kenya
Ayacucho®- designed for generations
It's all about sustainability
From raincoats, T-shirts and scarves to sleeping bags, air mattresses and backpacks: the Ayacucho® outdoor & travel collection is perfect for young and old, in the city or out in nature. The products have an optimal price-quality ratio and are always made with attention to sustainability, functionality and comfort.
And, all of your Ayacucho purchases support a variety of Solid projects, which improve the standard of living for the inhabitants of neglected regions in Peru, Kenya and India. Did you know, by the way, that the Ayacucho® hats and scarves are all crocheted and knitted in the mountains of the Ayacucho region? All of the other Ayacucho products from the collection are manufactured in Asia under conditions that are correct and fair toward humans and the environment, and at a fair wage.
New collection
The local handicraft for our Ayacucho® collection
Whenever possible, we place an order with Solid’s workshops. This stimulates local employment, which is still of most use to the (underprivileged) poor population. These orders consist mainly of hats, gloves, scarves, and buffs for the autumn and winter collection. But summer kimonos or other ‘misfits’ can also be discussed.
Knitting studio in Peru
The Manta handicraft workshop in Peru already employs 900 knitters who have knitted over 150,000 items. The (disadvantaged) poor women knit hats, blankets, and scarves like those from our Ayacucho collection. This income helps them on their way to a better life.
Weaving baskets in Kenya
The common thread in Kenya: local and sustainable community development. Cheerful Kenyan ladies work daily to knot beautiful, colourful baskets for a fair wage. Belgian Lore Defrancq has been leading that project under the name Hadithi since 2014. Curious to know how the creative process goes, and what impact your purchase has on the community?
Sewing studio in India
This unique handicraft workshop provides a fair wage for young women who really need it because of their disadvantaged background and distressing past. Forty of Ranchi’s residents were already employed in the workshop, where 800 sweaters and headbands have already been made.
The Solid ecosystem
Corporate social responsibility is central to Solid's projects. Their ecosystem is based on a hybrid model in which a number of economically profitable projects contribute to social assistance projects, which are subdivided into Solid Crafts and Solid Agriculture. So, every euro invested is utilised two-fold and, above all, cleverly invested.
Solid Peru projects
- Manta: An artisanal craft workshop where underprivileged women and teenage mothers knit blankets, hats and scarves for export, like the hats in our Ayacucho® collection.
- Día: Crisis centre where underprivileged teenage girls live independently with supervision and learn to develop skills to improve their well-being.
- Montefino: Western-style dairy farm that offers goods and services for the improvement of livestock farming and of the living conditions of the farming families in Ayacucho.
- Jovem: Practical, high-quality, agricultural educational programme focusing on sustainability, which offers local youth a brighter future while stemming the tide of those same young people fleeing the countryside for the cities.
- Solid Food: Honest cooperation among the agricultural families in Ayacucho for the commercialisation of Andean crops, like quinoa.
- Familias Saludables: Intensive cooperation focussing on health, well-being and housing for exceptionally vulnerable families in the mountain communities of Ayacucho.
Solid Kenia projects
- Taita Traditional: handmade, naturally coloured baskets made from braided sisal, strengthening the position of women in the Taita community.
- Wildlife Works: organisation that protects the habitat of wild animals near Tsavo National Park, an area west of Mombasa.
- Hadithi: means 'story' in Swahili. Under the wings of Wildlife Works, this organisation enables Kenyan women to earn their own income by weaving baskets.
Solid India projects
- Paces Crafts: A sustainable handicraft workshop in the Ranchi countryside that provides local weavers and underprivileged women with training and an honest, fair income.
- Jaan Foundation: Protection, support and childcare for children who have been the victims of slavery and child abuse, with rehabilitation as its goal.
