WE DON'T SELL FEMINISMS!

"We don't sell feminism, we are feminists who sell T-shirts". The phrase is from the designer and owner of Peita, Karina Gallon. The explanation came because of the questions he receives on social networks. “Our position is very clear. Both in the online and offline world. We would be selling feminism if we just marketed the T-shirts without showing who these women are and what struggles we are talking about."

On the day of Marielle Franco's murder, Peita posted on social media the image of a T-shirt with the phrase: Lute Como Marielle Franco. No, it is not for sale. The simulation was just a tribute. When Karina came up with the concept of the protest brand, she chose a simple design. “Since I was going to do the layout, I chose a font family that could unfold quickly. I knew I would do everything, that the business would be mine, so I couldn't waste a lot of time creating. I wish I could make up a phrase and go out the next day”. And that's what the designer did after the councilwoman was executed, she made posters available for download . “May her name win even more on the streets and stay in people's minds. We will not forget what they did to her.”

The protest brand, which sells 'breasts' with controversial words, won over Brazil with the phrase “Fight like a girl”. Gal Costa, Manuela D'Ávila, Aila, among others, shared photos of themselves wearing the T-shirt. Sunday was Tiê's turn to give his meaning to the phrase. The songwriter and her band ended the show on the Ax stage at Lollapalooza with their breasts.

Once upon a time…

The chest was born for the women's march on March 8, 2017. Its debut was in the streets. “I commented on the idea of ​​a new approach to the discussion of feminism, taking into everyday life the posters used by women around the world in the march against Trump. A friend said: 'this is a great idea, I already want a model of each shirt”, says Karina, who spread the idea among other close friends. “When I saw it, there were about 20 people wanting T-shirts printed with the phrases on the posters and I thought that if this is in our interest, it is quite possible that it will be in other people's interests as well. I started to think as a business and what values ​​I would build this brand on. I decided on the product: it will be a T-shirt. Almost everyone uses it, it's a product that doesn't have to be expensive. So I decided to do all-type, giant, with the phrase being the protagonist of the ride. We have receivers on the other side who will receive the message and I hope that it will be the trigger for questions about what she means and what she is doing there. I create the phrases thinking about certain contexts, but when people wear it, they reframe that phrase within their own context of life and their struggles”, he comments. "I know that not all people are militants, but all people want to express themselves at some point and I clearly see the T-shirt as a tool for that."

The protest brand aims to provide tools for women to fight against the oppression of machismo. Thus, Peita fulfills the mission of bringing the sayings from the context of the demonstrations to ordinary days, whether on t-shirts, hoodies, bags, buttons, magnets, stickers or posters. Altogether there are 14 controversial sayings. “Pedal like a girl”, “Play like a girl”, “Never look down” and “After the ride it's not all harassment” are some of the slogans that also took to the streets. Conceived by designer Karina Gallon, the project also embraces social causes with the co-creation of manifestos. An example is the partnership with “Creativos por Haiti”, which mobilizes volunteers to carry out humanitarian activities in the devastated Central American country, and the words “You matter to me”, also in the Haitian Creole version: “Ou enpotan pou mwen”.

Encouraging the fight even in the sphere of art, “PUTA” is a co-creation with the feminist band Mulamba from Curitiba, author of the song whose title stamps Peita. In their concerts across the country, whether at Circo Voador (RJ) or at the Psicodália Festival (SC), the girls go on stage with their T-shirts that complement the message given in their songs. “Woman, release your voice” was performed with Festival Sonora em Curitiba, a space for lectures, chats and showcases of female composers in the capital of Paraná.

In addition to promoting debates and occupations and participating in feminist fairs, Peita has a genuine social commitment. “Women on the margins resist” was born out of a co-creation with the project “Ebulição Marginal”, an event that since 2013 encourages dialogue between literature and artistic manifestations on the outskirts of Curitiba. In 2017, the first year of partnership, Karina gave an urban intervention workshop, teaching children and teenagers how to paint licks, stencils, spoke about graffiti and the socio-political importance of these urban expressions. In 2018, the girls from Slam das Minas, from São Paulo, also adhered to these sayings. “The sound that is born from them” was a co-creation with Festival Sonora, in São Paulo, available exclusively at the event made by and for women. “Rise as we go up” was the motto that the “National Association of Colored Women's Associations” chose for itself in 1895 and which governs the partnership with Peita.

Peita also entered into a partnership with “Casa Nem” and developed “My body is political”, whose part of the production of the pieces in the colors of the trans flag (white, pink and blue) is destined to the NGO that serves the LGBT population of Rio de Janeiro. January. The phrase is the title of a documentary by Alice Riff, which addresses the daily life of four trans activists on the outskirts of São Paulo. Its use was authorized by the authors of the work.