OUR ROOTS
Why Women
A refugee is someone who is fleeing from civil unrest, violence, oppression, or poverty - the list goes on. Like many other countries, the United States admits refugees every year, granting asylum to a certain number of displaced persons over a fixed time.
Some of the biggest challenges for a refugee in the United States are finding housing, adjusting to an entirely new culture, supporting a family, surviving on food stamps and learning a foreign language - just to name a few. But, in order to do any of that, refugees and displaced people need equitable and sustainable job opportunities with a fair wage.
According to a UN Study, Women represent almost 10 million refugees worldwide [1]. Statistically, a refugee woman will be underpaid and undereducated, further contributing to a socio-economically oppressed demographic.
NEOCOCO is here to change that.
If you find yourself shopping on our website, we invite you to join our mission to support the effort in ending this cycle. Let’s work together to support women. (Subscribe to our newsletter for annual updates and information).
We believe in the strength and beauty of womankind. Our designs aim to replicate the essence of strength, femininity, and how it exists in many forms. Most importantly we aim to serve as a brand that you can believe in - where every dollar spent has meaning.
Our Mission
NEOCOCO was founded in 2017 by Amrita Thadani. She began her efforts as a volunteer working with refugee women. As she deepened her relationships and understanding of these women and the challenges they face, she was determined to do something about it. With over 15 years of experience as a Fashion Stylist, Amrita Thadani knew it was time to combine her experience in a meaningful way.
Since then, NEOCOCO started with a small but mighty group of women to begin production on our hand embroidered designs. Each woman who embroiders our product is paid above minimum wage, trained and supported by NEOCOCO, and works with other embroiderers with similar backgrounds. Together they support each other, build community, and help one another navigate obstacles.
They say that a community is only as strong as the people living in it.
At NEOCOCO we work to understand their needs and stories of oppression, and constantly look to provide new services, workshops, educational training, and ongoing comradery to support our growing team of strong women.
We partner with resettlement agencies such as the IRC (International Rescue Committee), Program for Torture Victims, and LA Downtown Women's Center to train and enable women to work in a safe environment. As a mission first company, 100% of our revenue is directed back into the company to hire and assist displaced women.
Looking forward into the future, we are excited to continue expanding our reach and have set goals for increasing our product and sizing range to embrace and reflect all womxn. With every dollar spent on your NEOCOCO merchandise, we want our audience to feel like their purchase matters - that owning our designs makes you feel beautiful, and that joining our community strengthens our shared purpose.
Hand Embroidery
Culturally, most of the women on our team are intimately familiar with the process of hand embroidery as it is a practice that is passed down through generations of family and tradition. Hand embroidery is a slow and therapeutic process that promotes personal creativity and autonomy.
Our forward integration plan enables women who have been with NEOCOCO since the beginning, to now help us train and embrace more women to join this practice and help produce our unique NEOCOCO apparel. Each new member of our growing team participates in a three week training period where they become familiar with the artwork and find alignment and support within our mission.
The artwork you see on our apparel is representative of all women and their unique stories.
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(1) https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-refugees-and-migrants#notes