From conflict to catwalk: female ex-combatants weave reconciliation in Colombia

Peace must be sewn stitch by stitch.

With this idea in mind, Ms. Avella went to work in a small sewing workshop in Catatumbo, Colombia, one of the fruits of the 2016 peace deal between the Colombian government and FARC rebels, intended to help former fighters reintegrate and heal the wounds of the conflict.

Like many former combatants, she was looking for a way to rebuild her life after the war, and the workshop served as a space for training, care and empowerment for women that would help prevent gender-based violence – a place where they could learn a trade, support each other and regain trust in the midst of an area marked by violence.

Along with several other women, Ms. Avella founded Stitches for Peace, which began making sweatshirts, T-shirts and uniforms. But in 2021, the project took an unexpected turn towards high fashion.

At an initiative led by the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, she met Lina Garcés, an economist trained at Externado University and founder of a second-hand clothing boutique called Lina’s Closet, in Cúcuta.

Ms. Garcés used to say that her store sold “second chance clothes,” a phrase that would soon take on new meaning.

Ms. Garcés agreed to participate, albeit not without reservations. Her personal history was marked by the armed conflict and her family was the victim of a kidnapping, which left behind painful memories.

However, she decided to travel to Caño Indio, in the middle of the Catatumbo jungle, where she found a place very different from the fashion world she worked in: prefabricated accommodations, tin roofs, dirt roads and communal bathrooms.

But she also found something she didn’t expect: talent. “The women had impressive assets,” she recalls. “The one who sewed did it with incredible precision; the one who cut had the heartbeat of a professional.” Many had learned to use a needle and thread and to repair uniforms or boots during the war. Now that knowledge wove a different story.

The skirts of Ixora and reconciliation

Fifteen days of intensive work was done on designs, dimensions and finishing. From that time came the idea of ​​creating wrap skirts with prints inspired by the Ixora flower, a plant that blooms all year round and symbolizes resistance and perseverance in Catatumbo.

From all the workshops, the brand ‘Ixora, inclusive and autonomous’ was born. At the end of 2021, they already had a first collection, which they presented in the Julio Pérez Library in Cúcuta. The parade brought victims of the conflict and peace signatories together on the same catwalk.

Some time later, during a discussion at the Cúcuta Book Fair, where they were invited to tell their story, Mrs. Garcés told her family history for the first time in public. As she spoke, Madame Avella listened to her in silence. Ms. Garcés said to the audience: “For me today, they are sensitive women, who want to move forward. On my part, there was forgiveness; now I want to support them and introduce more people to their work so that we can live in peace.”

The skirts were sold through Ms. Garcés’ store and soon other designers were interested in the initiative. Ixora began appearing at fashion shows in Tibú, Ocaña and Bogotá, and in 2022 they arrived for the first time at Colombiamoda, the country’s most important textile fair. They did this again in 2023 and 2024, as special guests, on the catwalk.

Women from the Ixora brand at the fair after a clothing-making workshop organized by UNVMC

The violence returns

However, this story of reconciliation, entrepreneurship and peace was strongly affected in January last year, when violence in this region increased again. There were mass displacements, killings of social leaders and ex-combatants, and thousands of families were forced from their homes.

The sewing workshop had to close. “The women didn’t want to go back out of fear,” Ms. Avella recalls. At the time, the priority was protecting lives.

Paradoxically, in the middle of that crisis, the news they had been waiting for for months arrived: Ixora had been officially registered as a trademark in Colombia by the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce. But they decided not to celebrate. “It wasn’t the right time,” Ms. Avella said. “There was too much uncertainty.”

Today the project is going through a forced pause. The sewing machines are still in Caño Indio, while the women wait for guarantees to move to a new, safer place in a rural area of ​​Cúcuta.

Hope for the future

Yet Ixora’s story is not over yet. The brand has just won a project with the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN) to guide other women in self-care and psychological support processes. It is a new phase for Ixora, which now aims not only to generate income, but also to provide a space of well-being for those who have experienced the consequences of the conflict.

“This project is a dream,” says Ms. Avella serenely. “In addition to the economic side, it means that we keep our association alive and show that we can build something different.”

Meanwhile, the women wait for the moment to turn the machines back on. In Catatumbo, where so many stories end abruptly, like the flower that gives it its name, there is hope that Ixora will bloom again, even in the most difficult of circumstances.