D’Souza founded Carcel (which means ‘prison’ in Spanish) in 2016 after visiting a women’s prison in Kenya. “I got to learn that the main cause of female incarceration globally is nonviolent poverty related crime – drug trafficking, theft, prostitution. They commit these crimes to provide for their families. It’s a spiral of poverty. So I founded a company to provide education and fair wages for incarcerated women so that they could make a proper living based on the living wages of that country.”
She created a fashion label and then set up a workshop in a women’s prison in Peru. “We started in Peru because Peru is home to one of the most luxurious natural materials. We only use natural materials from the country we operate in. Alpaca wool is fantastic material, extremely thermoregulating and durable. It is also a country where you have some of the most incredible knitters in the world.
D’Souza then moved on to Thailand where she worked with the Princess of Thailand to create the first living wage system for incarcerated women. “We worked in Chiang Mai Women’s prison and we followed the silk trail from China all the way through Thailand and worked with local artisans and silk creators. We had a weavery inside the prison where women would weave some of the most amazing silks I’ve ever seen. Some of them were extremely skilled and some had to learn. So we did a three-month educational program so everyone on our team would end up being able to make the most advanced garments.”
Sadly, like many other companies, Carcel was forced to close down in 2020 due to Covid. But it leaves a legacy. “I think it was kind of an innovation model for a lot of different aspects of what you’re seeing right now in slow fashion. But I think the most important thing that did happen there was the belief in humanity and that when you humbly connect with people despite other cultures, geographies, and people say yes to trusting you and try to build something new, something beautiful comes from that. And that is agency and the belief that we can all contribute and that we can come out a little bit stronger.”
