“When you think of fashion, you don’t think of it as something that is going to create change. I decided that I was going to use fashion as a tool for change. And I want to be able to not only impact and bring confidence to the women wearing my clothing, but I also want them to know that the person who created that garment has a safe working space and that she is treated with respect."
Cindy feels deeply grateful — not only to have been able to start her own business and realize her lifelong dream of becoming a fashion designer, but also to have a platform for pursuing her purpose and giving back. She founded her sustainable luxury ready-to-wear brand, Cindy Castro New York, to tackle the fashion industry's lack of transparency and the underrepresentation of Latinas, and today, her commitment to driving environmental and social change is deeply woven into the business model. Over 95% of the clothing is proudly crafted by skilled Latino immigrants and minorities in New York. Each garment is made exclusively from natural, biodegradable, and eco-friendly-certified fabrics. The business’s goal is to trace the garments from fiber origin to final production, a challenge in itself given the lack of transparency in the supply chain.
Beyond fashion, the business actively supports organizations dedicated to empowering women and children, reinforcing its mission to make a positive impact.
Like for many others, the COVID-19 outbreak marked a pivotal turning point for Cindy. By that time, she had already gained nearly a decade of industry experience, having worked with different contemporary brands and renowned fashion houses such as Coach, Parker New York, Derek Lam, and Shoshanna.
“When the pandemic hit, I lost my job, and that’s what led me to rethink what I wanted to do, rethink my role, not only as a fashion designer but as a member of the community here in the garment district. And that’s why I decided to open my own brand that is focused on a social and environmental impact.”
Cindy is humbled that she was able to take the leap. When she’s stopped in the street and asked what she’s wearing and is able to respond, “This is my brand, Cindy Castro New York”, she’s once again reminded of how surreal it all is.
You can watch a video of Cindy being interviewed about her experience here.
An entrepreneurial upbringing and the power of a shared language
Reflecting on her upbringing in the small town of Quevedo, Ecuador, where she lived until she immigrated to the United States at the age of 18, Cindy remembers afternoons after school spent helping at the family jewelry store, a business which her parents had started. From guiding customers to creating gift bags and other crafts as a thank you for their visit, Cindy embraced the entrepreneurial environment in which she found herself, and she credits her parents for her entrepreneurial spirit. Her interest in fashion, she says, can similarly be traced back to her childhood.
“As long as I can remember, I had this creativity in me. And as it relates to fashion, my Mom always tells me that I was very difficult with clothing, because I would always want to change it. She would buy clothing for me, and I would try to rearrange or change fabrics, colors.”
But the path of transforming a hobby into a source of income is often neither linear nor simple.
“We come from traditional families, so I didn’t think of fashion as a career,” she says. Fashion had given her self-confidence, it represented a creative outlet, a way to express herself; and although she knew she wanted to pursue fashion as a career, she also understood that the distance between dream and reality was significant. The first step, leaving her home country of Ecuador and family at age 18, was difficult, Cindy reflects. Determined to fulfill her promise to herself, she made many sacrifices and worked tirelessly — both in school and in her roles with various companies — to build her credibility and make a name for herself in the industry. Every step prepared her for what would later become Cindy Castro New York.
She reflects on how helpful it was to work in both a big company, Coach, and a smaller brand, Parker NY. "Having those two experiences was really important. At a bigger company, you focus on more of the same, and then in a smaller company, you wear more hats. Being a creative, I love learning about it all — about making fabrics, embroidery, how to talk to factories, how to negotiate and plan development and production.”
In her first few years in the U.S., Cindy was very focused on learning and improving her English, but she quickly realized that, ironically, it would be her native language of Spanish that would help her make meaningful connections, both personally and professionally.
“My Spanish is what led me to have bigger and better roles because, here in the garment district, there are many Spanish-speaking immigrants like myself. Sometimes, even when I was an associate designer, my bosses were like, ‘Okay Cindy, you’re going to manage all communications with the sample rooms’, because I could speak their language. That made [the clients] more comfortable. There were less mistakes because we were able to communicate and align on expectations.”
This shared language fostered mutual trust, which in turn helped Cindy when starting her business. “At the same time, we created a relationship. That helped me a lot when I wanted to start my own business — I already had honest relationships with them, and they wanted to help me and I wanted to help them. It was like giving back to my community.”
Community-backed capital resonated with Cindy’s values
When Cindy first learned about Kiva, she was in disbelief that the loans carried zero percent interest. She had self-funded the start of her business back in 2022, but knew she would need additional capital to grow. She also knew that she did not want to take on additional interest-bearing debt. An online search led Cindy to stumble across Kiva.
“Something that I really loved about it [Kiva.org], and I felt like it clicked with my values, is it’s focused on community. And it’s accessible. At a lot of other places, you have to create this professional business plan, for example, and that can be really hard for some people. And if someone can’t do that, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have a great idea. It’s just a lack of accessible, affordable funding.”
She skimmed the stories on the platform, reading about entrepreneurs who were crowdfunding loans for ingredients, or new equipment, or other improvements for their shop or bodega; and what she saw resonated deeply.
“I love that Kiva is about helping people. And that gave me hope, because I’ve been applying for grants and things like that, but it’s so competitive, and it can be disheartening at times because you put so much work in. I love that you tell the stories on the site, and that, at the core, it’s about community.”
And Cindy’s community and the Kiva global lender community (including 95 individuals near and far) contributed to fully funding her $9,500 zero-percent interest, zero-fee, zero-collateral Kiva loan in less than a week, back in February 2024.
“I was taken by surprise… I remember when I got the amount fully funded, I started crying, because there were people that knew me, people from my community; but also people that didn’t know me... I think that speaks a lot about the Kiva community, that there are people out there who find something mutual within Kiva and they want to just help. That was mind-blowing and so inspiring.”
She felt gratitude, awe, and optimism all at once. With the Kiva loan, Cindy was able to hire and train a seamstress, a refugee from Ecuador with sewing skills. Paying her a living wage and providing high-end fashion sewing courses to help her build her skills and confidence were non-negotiables. Cindy is thankful that the loan funds helped her create a job opportunity by keeping manufacturing local and, more importantly, allowed her to positively impact someone else's life.
“At the time, she was a refugee and she was living in a shelter. Knowing that I’m able to support someone who is in that situation - that’s success for me, that’s what drives me. That’s what I want to do for the community. Sometimes I even get a little frustrated because I want to do more, but it’s one step at a time, and I’m very proud that I was able to do that.”
Update from Cindy to lenders (November 2024)
Paying it forward by giving back
Cindy plans to continue giving back while she grows her business, working together with mission-aligned, sustainability-driven partners and clients on responsible initiatives that disrupt the fashion industry. She emphasizes that she’s committed to leaving the world better than she found it, and, in pursuit of her own personal definition of success, she is doing just that.
Community has been, and remains, a constant in Cindy’s journey, an immense source of inspiration and motivation and support; and she aspires to pay it forward.
“Something that’s really beautiful about creating this brand is that I’ve been able to meet amazing women. And majority of the people who support my business are women CEOs, women entrepreneurs, women who also want to create change, they want to help. These are women that I look up to. And it’s for the same reason that I want to give back, why I want to mentor other students - specifically Latinas, minorities, those from underrepresented communities. Because I see these people who want to help me, and I want to do the same.”
Cindy notes that her upbringing — growing up in a small town and witnessing inequality, poverty, and a lack of resources for those most in need — fueled her drive to create change. Her brand itself was founded with the mission of empowering underrepresented and underestimated groups. Today, Cindy Castro New York collaborates with organizations dedicated to advancing equality and human rights, supporting groups such as Glasswing, Dirt Charity, Vital Voices, Justice for Migrant Women, and more.
When thinking about what she loves most when it comes to running her own business, Cindy smiles.
“There’s a couple of things. One is that I’m able to have the freedom of creativity. I’m an artist and so having that freedom is everything. And two — and most importantly — it allows me to empower women.”
Providing hope in a world where dreams are universal, but opportunity is not, will always feel close to home for Cindy.
Stay up to date on how Kiva is addressing financial inclusion for marginalized entreprenurs in the United States at our LinkedIn newsletter, Underestimated Entrepreneurs.
