Gejia People

Gejia People, owned and operated by Emily and Anan, is a student-run fashion not-for-profit business. The company features wax dye clothing and accessories made by the Gejia female artisans in Huangping County, Guizhou, China. Unlike other fashion businesses, every piece at Gejia People is handmade by women who learned the traditional technique at the age of thirteen. The artisans render nature in their designs by smoothly incorporating indigenous plants and animals like butterflies and pomegranates with geometric and simplified patterns. The artisans fashion wax dye fabric by applying melted wax with a special tool called wax knife. After the wax hardens, the fabric is dyed in herbal pigments. Where wax is applied, the original color of the cloth is retained; the rest of the cloth is dyed with indigo. The wax is removed for the final product and will be reused. Thus, the fabric is skin-friendly, and the process of creating wax dye is environmentally sustainable.

Gejia People desires to do more for the artisans: Gejia female artisans currently face aging, financial difficulties and gender inequality. Gejia People aims to promote sustainable fashion that will not only be a green product but also supports an unique culture through expanding the market and raising public awareness of cultural preservation. What belongs to an ethnic group should be appreciated by the world. To better incorporate the regionally characteristic fabric into the international market, Emily and Anan selected representational patterns and turned them into daily wear. Gejia People Etsy store connects the wax dye culture with anyone around the world that mail services can reach.