Interview of Aurelyen in La Croix
Aurelyen’s interview for the La Croix Newspaper / Questions by Severin Husson
1/ Why did you choose this name?
I didn’t choose, it’s the name of the sewing school where the project started out.
2/ How can the significance of your success be best explained to our readers: can you give me some financial figures, or the number of pieces sold for example?
Our success is measured in humanitarian terms, by smiles and lives which change each day in order to edge towards a little more hope. Our annual income is small and insufficiant to make this adventure a money-maker. But we fight together in order to create and live together. My choices are always motivated by the idea of sharing, and the attempt to better one’s self through the emotions we provoke and intensely feel. Misericordia clothes are rare pieces sold in 17 countries worldwide.
3/ Can you tell me a bit about the origin of the project: how did you get the idea of creating such a company? What does it have to do with the orphanage? What are the implications in Peru today: how many people do you employ, how much do they earn…?
The idea was both Mathieu Reumaux’s and mine. Today, Misericordia is a team of sewers who work with their hands, spirits and hearts. Mathieu left the adventure and we have not been working at the orphanage for over 2 years now.
Misericordia today is one workshop situated in Lince in the centre of Lima. All the workers come from sewing training centers situated in the nothern parts of Lima. They live in areas of great distress, and come to Misericordia searching for a different life, and a job filled with perspectives and passion. We have no longer been working with the sisters at the orphanage, ever since internal difficulties, organizational changes and a lack of communication ended our relationship.
Today I am the director of Misericordia, and I continue to work alongside my team to see a different world. I just got back from the jungle today where I spent 3 days with Hermana Leticia in the house of the Sisters of the Misericordia at Puerto Yurinaki. I had been invited to the graduation party of the students of the 5B grade (the class of Madre Teresa de Calcuta), of whom I am the father figure. Misericordia made their graduation suits and I attended the end of year bal. Over a long period of time, I have built strong relationships with Hermana Leticia. We try to see each other on a regular basis, in order to discuss Peru, solidarity, development and love. The pupil’s parents especially prepared a pachamanca for us, a traditional dish cooked with hot stones underground, with vegetables found in the jungle, chicken, duck, and pork, all wraped in plantain leaves. In the village, I saw people wearing tee-shirts I had handed out over a month ago, it was incredible. For christmas, I am going to send them a sewing machine by bus, in order to develop a small workshop over there, and to develop a new teaching. Every time, I enter the jungle apeased and filled with desire. Despite all this, I made a terrible error. I was offered a little monkey, which I adopted to bring back to Lima in my workshop. And this moring I found it dead because it didn’t withstand the bus trip back which goes through an altitude of 4800m. I’m still a stupid gringo, who’s temptations are confused with the will to give. And so I return to Lima, the grey city, and I organize the week ahead with my team in order to produce as much as possible so as to make up lost time. Misericordia is currently a team of 20 and I intend to hire extra personnel in order to reach 25. This will permit us to better respond to client orders and to complete the team. Misericordia is still a project in crisis. Miracles allow me to see the ends of each month because we do not produce enough clothes, and I am unable to build my team. Pratically nobody wants to come and work for Misericordia. The way in which we work is more or less unique in the professional fashion world. Each worker makes his or her piece from A to Z, as is the case with “haute couture” workshops. There is very little division of labour by operations. The downside of this form of organisation is: a very slow production. But it allows each worker to be in constant reflexion during his or her working hours, and it also allows each worker to create real pieces through his or her talent and emotions. This model is difficult to protect in a world of fashion where the respect of labour rights are constantly forgotten. The workers at Misericordia work 45 hours a week and are paid 770 soles on average which represents one of the highest hourly rates in Peru (the minimum wage in Peru is 500 soles and over 50% of the population lives with less than a dollar a day). They do not work on Saturdays and are all declared, meaning that they all have a access to health services, are given holidays, retirement schemes and end of year bonuses. Despite all this, nobody wants to join us because they would rather work between 60 and 70 hours a week, on the black market, and live precariously for a few soles more. The concept of an hourly rate is impossible for workers who have recieved very little education and remain cross with mathematics. The working hours are unimportant, what matter are the bills pocketed at the end of the week. Only the women understand the uniqueness of our workshop and its advantages in terms of quality of living, apprentiship and personal development. Often the men prefer to do the same operation 3600 times a day on a single machine in an undeclared workshop, driven by poverty and a certain ignorance. My means of persuasion are very limited when faced with the traditions of slavery and oppression imbeded in Peruvian culture. I try to find solutions whilst 80% of our European clients pay for our products with several months delay. Our different clients are not yet numerous enough to enable a stronger development of Misericordia. The salary at Misericordia is a good one in Peru, but remains insufficiant for a decent life in the 79th poorest country in the world. We make dresses, coats, shirts, across 6 collections per year (men, women and children), and are found in the most beautiful boutiques worldwide. If today we make other choices whilst reducing our will to create, the quality of our primary materials and our organizational model: the results would be certainly be different, but this interests no one at Misericordia. We are proud of the quality of our clothes, and of our message of pride and creative elevation. Vivir es Luchar (To live is to struggle). No Mas Utopia (No more utopia).
Official website : La Croix Misericordia Facebook Fanpage
