40 countries of factory visits and counting...

Forty countries of factory visits and counting.. 
I love my career.
I have spent the last few days in textile mills with the rumbling sounds of heavy machinery and sewing machines and people gathering to view their craftsmanship.

Somewhere secret outside Milan...I am hidden away in a tiny, over 200 year old building that is now a hotel. With a simple yet amazing little restaurant filled with tenderly 
treated fresh ingredients. 


Searching for the soul of responsible products.


I am in a country I love as my second home, my beloved Italy.

One of the things I love most about Italy is the quiet.
The “respecto de silencio”. 
They respect the beauty of quiet.

Televisions are not allowed in nice restaurants where they might blare tranquilizer required news about American gun deaths or political nightmares.

The streets are quiet unless you are in an area filled with noisy foreign tourists.

The museums are filled with gravitas and the hollow echo of very soft footsteps on polished marble floors.

Tomorrow I will spend 10 to 12 hours straight at one of my favorite mills.

That is out of the over forty countries I have visited factories in. The dozens of countries I have visited textile mills.

These include the USA, Mexico, Peru, France, Egypt, Turkey, India, East India, Bangalore, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and more.

Italy is my favorite for special reasons. Their obsession with quality when it comes to textiles is comparable to their obsession with quality in a Ferrari or their  incredible hand made pasta.

And the quiet... the respect for silence...

lots of love,
Anna


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