'Fight Like a Girl' turns 1 in March

Empowering is offering tools for women to fight against the oppression of machismo. Empowerment is not just about self-esteem. It is the transformation that we, together, bring about in society. With that in mind, Peita was born, which was not even called Peita when it took to the streets of Curitiba on March 8, 2017, at the World March of Women - 8M. Stopping by the women who couldn't stop, designer Karina Gallon found a direction for her T-shirt project with feminist phrases.

“When I worked with design, sitting in front of the computer, hours a day, I followed the growth of feminist demonstrations on the internet. It was remarkable to see a crowd of girls marching against Trump carrying signs with encouraging phrases and simple and very well done designs. I found sites where it was possible to print them and that taught how to make licks or reproduce them in larger sizes. There were women providing free materials so that women could protest”, says Karina. This needed to reach Brazil, leave the context of the demonstrations and also take to the streets on ordinary days so that anyone could be impacted by the women's struggle. “My mom talks about being strong and in charge of your life, but she doesn't talk about feminism. I want to reach those people too.”

Within the 2nd Floor collective in the Anita Building, Karina found support to put her little revolution into practice. Designer Cris Pagnoncelli provided space for making the pieces, in addition to fruitful debates on feminism, and designer Eduilson Cohan sold the All Type font so well known for 'Lute Como Uma Garota'. “I was at a feminist meeting on the 2nd Floor and I saw inks and screen printing equipment in a room. I asked Doo to teach me how to handle it and on the day of the march we bought t-shirts, applied the print to posters – which we used in the march – and fabric, dried it on our bodies with a hairdryer (it was just before the scheduled time for the rally) and we went to the street”, he explains. That same week Karina received more than 30 requests.

In less than a year, the room in Edifício Anita became too small for production and operations, Karina found suppliers that send breasts ready to be shipped all over Brazil and, occasionally, outside the country. In addition to the flagship phrase of the brand, “Never Look Down”, “Touch Like A Girl”, “Pedale Like A Girl”, “Be Who You Want”, “Women on the Edge Resist”, “PUTA” among others arising from partnerships, such as “Mulher, Solta Tua Voz” held with Festival Sonora, a space for lectures, chats and showcases of female composers. Another great partner is the band Mulamba, which carries Peita's phrases wherever they go.

“Soon we will announce actions for March 8th, 1 year of Peita and from February monthly videos will be released with reports of women telling what it's like, for them, to fight like a girl. In the future this material will be gathered in a documentary. We already have the first one ready and get ready, it's exciting”. Karina makes one last request: “Deliveries in Curitiba are carried out by bike girls and, now, motogirl”, she concludes.

#fightlikeagirl #putapeita
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Photos - Marcos Paulo; Rosemere Lamb; Luciano Meirelles.