Bene Caribe

“Bene Caribe is Vibrant, Passionate and Conscious: Like our personalities, our pieces are colorful and flavorful! We are inspired by the passion, warmth, camaraderie, flavors, vibrancy and rhythm of our Caribbean people and the waters, skies, forests and flora of our Caribbean environment.”

BENE (Latin): Well or good

CARIBE (Spanish): Caribbean

BENE CARIBE means Good for the Caribbean

Abby Charles started Bene Caribe to test the concept of building a fashion brand to generate revenue to eventually start a foundation. Her goal was that with the sale of pieces, Bene Caribe would make small donations to non-profits doing good work in the Caribbean. Over the years, their mission has evolved to use fashion as a vehicle to promote what is good from the Caribbean.

“Bene Caribe is Vibrant, Passionate and Conscious: Like our personalities, our pieces are colorful and flavorful! We are inspired by the passion, warmth, camaraderie, flavors, vibrancy and rhythm of our Caribbean people and the waters, skies, forests and flora of our Caribbean environment.”

Bene Caribe works with a fabric artist named Don sealy to design unique prints. He produces the fabrics for their Trinbagonian-made batik pieces. They also use other wax batiks and vibrant solid colours to capture the brightness and essence of the Caribbean.

In their own words:

“We are passionate about social responsibility. We value and believe that we are responsible for our community and aim to be responsible in the production and promotion of our fashion brand. Over the years we've been able to make small contributions to the Backpack Project, the Voice of Lupus Foundation, CFAFF, MOGirls, this is Me, Conflict women, and we sponsored a trip of members of the Astor Johnson Repertory Dance company to host a workshop in Washington, DC. In the future, I want to be able to give more and look forward to working with organizations to identify new ways to expand the visibility of their good work in the wider Caribbean diaspora as Bene Caribe (hopefully) also becomes more visible.

We are conscious producers and consumers and we believe that with increased awareness, the Caribbean will produce more conscious businesses and consumers who are dedicated to sustainability and to having a positive impact in their communities. We presently try to be no-waste and save every scrap of fabric to be used for future projects. As we grow as a brand, I also hope to be able to integrate more sustainable practices into our production process such as using more recycled materials, integrating organic fabrics (the process of growing organic cotton is better for the environment), and more natural dyes that have a softer impact on the environment as well.

Bene Caribe Beliefs

• The Caribbean is GOOD (beautiful, energetic, positive, vibrant, productive, green)

• People from the Caribbean are GOOD

• People from the Caribbean are stylish

• There is no one Caribbean style!

• People from the Caribbean Do GOOD and give back to their communities

• People from the Caribbean are talented, and "Made in the Caribbean means made with quality, love and craftsmanship

• The Caribbean Diaspora is a rich and diverse diaspora that has contributed to global development and will give back to the ongoing stride to excellence in the Caribbean

• There are organizations and individuals doing phenomenal work in the Caribbean and across our diaspora.

• There are many people from the Caribbean who want to give back but just don't know how.

Bene Caribe Values

• Prioritizing the use of traditional fabrics printed in the Caribbean, as well as traditional printed wax batiks from countries of the developing world.

• The ethical use of material and resources.

• Handmade/ slow-made processes

• Recycling & reusing

• Excellent quality from stitch, to servic,e to sale.

• Innovation in design and we do this through new collaborations, new products, new collections, and new causes.

• A team and collaborative approach to all of our work.

• Fair & living wages and believe that our customers will understand that the lowest price is not always the best or most ethical price.

• Balance