Jobs at Paka

After taking a year to travel through South America, I came across an alpaca sweater in Peru that a grandmother had woven. I'd never felt anything like it - unbelievably soft and lightweight. Back in the United States, people would always come up to me and ask where it came from / where they could get one. I flew back to Cusco the following summer to learn more, and ended up building a team of Quechua women with a couple prototypes. I launched a website out of my dorm room that fall, and soon pro-surfers, US snowboarders, and artists such as Chance the Rapper and The Chainsmokers were repping it. We launched a Kickstarter the next summer which went viral - kickstarter.com/projects/823788894/paka-the-alpaca-wool-sweater. Alpaca is an incredible, sustainable material, and we're seeking to create functional products based off the fiber's intrinsic properties. Having evolved in such a harsh climate, alpaca is dynamic and can function in both the cold and the heat. We seek to apply these capabilities for the modern lifestyle, constantly moving from the mountains, to the city, to the ocean. We're not a fashion company, but instead building a product that truly adds value to your life. We're working to bridge the gap between the consumer and the creator - to break down boundaries in the industry that normally separate the two. Toms 1-for-1 model was a step in the right direction, but you never saw the end impact of your purchase (nor the kid that received those shoes). With each product, we're bringing you right to where it comes from, and the impact it has. Each Peruvian woman signs the sweater that she weaves. If you're using alpaca fiber, why can't each product go back into funding where it comes from? Ultimately, we're working to bring a breath of humanity to a synthetic world, to tap into the ancestral synergy of humans and nature. We envision a modern human that can morph back into nature’s ingenuity, and flourish in awe.