Garments
Manos design team develops garments and accessories for our collection, always aiming at pinning in it the traditions, techniques and identity of our country. In a world governed by mass production and globalization, there is an increasing trend to look for products with a meaning, with a story to tell.
Manos garments, manufactured one by one, are the best way of expressing our own individuality.
Manos collections are aimed at modern and active women, who enjoy the feeling of being unique, special, and at the same time, comfortable.
Taking wool as staple, and making the most out of the creative possibilities of hand-knitting and yarns, Manos del Uruguay designs garments that stand out for their creativity, their colors, and their high quality.
To achieve this, the first step is the search for trends: for that, there are many information sources: technical magazines, web information, and traveling abroad. Trends have two fundamental aspects: materials and shapes. Its important to know which fibers are fashionable (thick or thin, combed or carded, soft or fuzzy, rustic or soft, etc.). On the other hand one must pay attention to the trends regarding the type of knitting used, the motives (intarsia, jacquard, braids, etc.), modeling and terminations (embroideries, appliqués, etc.)
All this information is reflected in the development of yarns (in general mixtures of wool with other natural fibers) and the manufacturing of samples that present different knitting stitch patterns, knitting, looming, crochet and felting techniques.
Local Market
Our main line of production is represented by the garments and knitted accessories, hand loomed and felted, in a completely handicraft way.
Those are exhibited in two collections per year (Spring-Summer and Autumn-Winter)
We also feature a line of articles for home decoration.
In Uruguay it is quite usual to walk on the street on a winter day, and meet someone wearing a Manos del Uruguay product. Its the garment kept with love and care in the wardrobe of many Uruguayans.
Manos del Uruguay is the trademark chosen by excellence when we want to make a special gift, when we want to transmit our affection to our loved ones, or when we want to give as a present something more than a simple object. Manos del Uruguay is an enterprise very loved by Uruguayans, we all feel it a little bit of our own, and all Uruguayans, when they want to give as a gift something representing their country, they immediately choose a Manos del Uruguay product.
And this is not only for the fact of being products manufactured by our own hands, but also because they represent everything we want to transmit from Uruguay: the closeness, the home-made products, the contact with nature, our culture and traditions, garments to which a special attention has been dedicated, which were made with love and care, garments that will accompany in the distance, and that will preserve that Uruguayan color anywhere in the world. This is why Manos del Uruguay is the first chosen trademark at the time of making a gift, and this is why so many Uruguayans as well as foreigners choose Manos products when they want to take a little bit of our inner tradition and reality abroad.
Because more than clothes, Manos del Uruguay products are an extension of our environment, where the body ends and nature begins; garments that capture the spirit, the vitality and the sincerity of our nature.
At the time of designing for the local market we have very present the trends of our clients abroad, who, being mostly from the northern hemisphere, start developing their collections before we do.
International Market
We have been exporting for 30 years to the most demanding markets and to the most sophisticated trademarks.
Manos works for leading companies, which demand the highest quality and the ability of adapting to clients requirements.
With respect to the development of products for the external market, Manos del Uruguay designers meet several times throughout the year with the clients design teams, to jointly develop the different models. This is a very intense work where Manos technical department transforms the design ideas into real garments, in an enriching exchange that encourages us to utilize our techniques in different and creative ways, and that allows our clients to have special and unique products in their collections.
Manos del Uruguay success in exports is based as much on the quality of its products as well as on the design services it provides.
Contracts with these characteristics imply to propose a design and to incorporate the modifications suggested by the client; and, before choosing the cooperative that will be in charge of dispatching the order, there is a whole preparation work to do, so that this order can be completely executed: to prepare the patterns for each size, to ensure the supply of raw materials, to prepare the delivery of final products to the central office, to make the corresponding quality controls and to take all the necessary steps to dispatch the shipment.
It is a constant effort: on one side, to identify the market, to find the clients and to build customer loyalty; on the other side, to coordinate the distance whole production.
The costs of this productive dispersal include: multiplication of prototypes, quality controls, training on the garment, shrinkage of raw materials, fuel, freights, communications, etc....Manos vehicles cover approximately 100,000 km. per syear to take and bring raw materials, garments, tools, between the cooperatives and the service center in Montevideo; a social and productive project which is an example of permanence and originality.
These are some of our clients:
EUROPE:
Chanel
Dries Van Noten
Joseph
Mulberry
Pringle of Scotland
Stella McCartney
USA:
Marc by Marc Jacobs
Peruvian Connection
Donna Karan
Polo Ralph Lauren
Yigal Azrouël
ARGENTINA:
Jazmin Chebar
