At the end of March, Bogota’s San Francisco Palace filled with the local fashion community as guests arrived to see the sustainable swimwear and resortwear brand Baobab unveil its spring 2023 collection, titled “La Danza” (The Dance).
Following a film, which was based on a love story set in Rio de Janeiro in the ’70s, the stage offered a live scenography where dance and music took over the audience, a celebration not only of the new collection but of the growth the brand has seen over the last two years.
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Colombian-born designer Isabella Espinosa launched Baobab in 2015 with the mission of making a positive mark through the lens of material innovation and environmental responsibility. Since then the brand’s ongoing commitment to a sustainable approach is referenced not only in the act of recycling fishing nets and turning plastic bottles into fabrics or the reduction of textile waste, but also in a donation and restoration program. Up to 2022, Baobab managed to plant 8,000 trees and help restore 5,380 square feet of coral reefs in San Andres Island, Colombia, in alliance with the Corales de Paz Organization.
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Baobab’s focus on sustainability, its successful collections and expansion of international distribution aren’t the only reasons the brand is a topic of conversation these days. Baobab’s decision to team with Malagon Group — the fashion consulting agency founded in 2018 by Colombian-born Camila Malagon — in August 2020 is also a factor, helping drive the brand’s 720 percent annual growth in both 2021 and in 2022. As a result, annual revenues went from $250,000 in 2020 to $5 million in 2022.
In addition to its ability to take a custom approach to design, sales, communications, marketing, and consulting with a team over Latin America, the U.S. and Europe, Malagon Group is better known for offering emerging brands a roadmap for standing out in a crowded scenario, and building successful relationships with key U.S. retailers while trying to do the same with those in Europe.
Before kicking off their partnership, Baobab was only selling to Victoria’s Secret, whereas Camila Malagon was already deep in the resortwear business and had a strong relationship with U.S. retailers because of her previous work experience in New York.
“At the time, I didn’t have a brand that appealed to a younger audience the way Baobab did, and I knew that with some guidance and proper introduction into the U.S. market, I could get them in the stores. Isabella stood out to me as she seemed to be highly committed and motivated from the beginning, she’s a super hard-working person,” Malagon said.
“My initial strategy was to give Baobab a new and fresh color palette, and to focus on resortwear and ready-to-wear. I knew that the brand would sell well at stores like Revolve and Intermix, so those were the two that we targeted from the start. To this date those are our biggest clients. Also, I worked with our contacts to communicate Baobab’s strong sustainability efforts and make sure that they were being seen not only from key players in the industry but also their direct customers,” she added.
Establishing partnerships with Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Intermix, LuisaViaRoma and Revolve was only one of the brand’s major steps. There also were its fashion show in Paris last June, its resort presentation in Dubai last November and its recent launch of the second exclusive bridal collection for Saks.
Besides Colombia and the U.S., the firm also is present in markets such as Costa Rica, Dubai, Egypt, Honduras, Italy, Ivory Coast, Kuwait, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Riyadh, Senegal, Switzerland, Turkey, and Venezuela, among others.
The label has its own flagship in Bogota and in February it decided to open a second store in Cartagena de Indias. Regarding the latter opening, the brand experienced criticism as native women, better known as palenqueras, were involved in the event as an “ornament,” according to part of its audience and ILEX, a racial justice organization. Baobab released a video in which Espinosa apologized and presented her plan of action in order to avoid any damage in the future.
In the short term, major decisions will include recognizing and pointing out the socio-environmental implications that may be at stake in the hands of the sustainability and human resources departments. Baobab also will conduct sessions with experts on inter-ethnic issues to reflect on its role as a brand, as a team and as human beings in Afro-inclusion, offering a space for face-to-face or virtual dialogue with stakeholders who can build the social parameters to be considered on future occasions, and to co-create an action of reparation for the Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal and Palenquero population (NARP) that recognizes their voices.
Camila Malagon summed up the key efforts for their accomplishments: “The main strategy has been to achieve continued and sustainable growth with the existing retailers we work with. In addition to this, Baobab has been diversifying their collections from being swimwear and resortwear, and now creating bridal exclusives for Saks Fifth Avenue. The brand is now doing fall, which opens the door to tons more retailers and opportunities to sell all year around. In 2021, we started to seek out more European stores with showrooms and markets in London and now Baobab has different reps around the world looking for growth opportunities specifically for them.”