Our Story
Celebrating personal identity through our Latina heritage with color vibrancy, expressive design and ethical practices
Selva Negra was founded in 2016 in a tiny Brooklyn apartment in Crown Heights. Designers, Kristen Gonzalez and Sam Romero found an immediate connection after meeting in New York post-graduation from FIT (KG) and Parsons (SR). Expressing design through their Latina heritage, Kristen and Sam revere big individual personalities and conceptualize through engineered comfort, contemporary shapes and multi-use silhouettes. Selva Negra is rooted in the use of ethical practices and is committed to ethically sourced materials, production transparency, zero-waste packaging while picking up new ways to reduce their carbon footprint.
Our Products
We source our fabrics locally in Los Angeles, CA and some imported goods from Japan and Turkey. All trims are locally sourced from Los Angeles and also imported from Japan. Our collection is fully produced in Downtown Los Angeles using ethical and sustainable practices.
FAQ
What does "Ethical Fashion" Mean?
Ethical by definition is relating to moral principles therefore we strive to lead our company by these standards. We are active in non-profit donations for ideologies that align with our brand such as United We Dream, Planned Parenthood, ACLU, SPLC, Wildlife Conservation, RAICES, and National Immigration Justice. We firmly believe that building a better community starts with companies making a conscious effort to participate in the betterment of humanity. We work with vendors alike that also lead by example creating a clean assembly line of knowing who made it and where your product is made. We can assure our customers quality product made by quality people with quality materials.
What sustainable practices does Selva Negra use?
We are making efforts to reduce the amount of plastic used in our studio by shipping with zero plastic and compostable packaging. We ship goods to our stockists in reused or recycled boxes. Some of our fabric is purchased from deadstock wholesalers to reduce the amount of new fabric purchased from fabric mills. Additionally, we save scrap fabrics to make scrunchies and tote bags. There are other sustainable practices we would like to implement as our company grows. If you have any suggestions, feel free to email us at info@selvanegra.us
Will you expand into more sizing?
We are in the process of working on adding more extended sizing to our website. We currently offer select styles up to size 4XL and are adding more styles to our extended sizing very soon!
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Meet the Key Players of Selva Negra
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Founders: Kristen Gonzalez and Sam Romero
Design and Production Manager: Nelly Torres
Nelly has been working with Selva Negra since 2018 and is an extremely sweet and thoughtful person. She's our team wonder-woman and works mostly in design, photo editing, production, and dabbles in customer service.
Social Media Manager: Mandy Chen
Mandy has been working with Selva Negra since 2019 and works at the speed of lightening while always dressing so chic. She manages our social media, marketing, website, and dabbles in customer service.
Factory Owner: Tania
Tania been in business for over 15 years in the same office in Downtown LA. She loves traveling to different countries with her husband and is extremely diligent with her production.
Sewing Operators: Johnny + Edgar
They have been sewing for over 15 years and have worked with Tania for a little over 8 years. They are incredibly efficient, pay close attention to detail, and work with integrity.
Sample Makers: The Maria's
Maria L.
Maria was our first sample maker and solo-production sewer. She's extremely positive and has a great sense of humor. She has taught us so much!
Maria P
Maria P. is Kristen's neighbor and is one of the sweetest women we have ever met. She stumbled upon our garage studio in late 2018 and introduced herself and has been our sample-making angel ever since.
Our Story told by Bese