January Editorial

Let’s start from the end and with a wish that I hold strong and powerful in my heart: Happy 2021 to all of you who follow us. This terrible 2020 is over, and it will take very little for next year to be better.

But since we at Crida (that is, Daniela and I) are tenacious and positive women, we also want to suggest—perhaps somewhat unexpectedly—that you don’t throw away everything from 2020. Try instead to find and preserve whatever good, however small, we have experienced.

I am convinced that women are the ones who, over these past twelve months, have had to bear the heaviest burden of exhaustion and stress. They handled their work (often adapting to smart working) but also their families and homes, doing backflips to make everything fit together.

They cared for sick relatives, helped their children with remote learning—whether they were frightened or difficult (depending on their age)—and often comforted worried husbands with that natural predisposition we have to organize everything, to welcome and reassure, often without ever having time for ourselves.

A few days before Christmas, we received a message on the Crida Instagram page from a doctor at the Niguarda hospital. While complimenting our dresses in a very sweet way, she wrote: “It would be wonderful if even we, who have been shut in the hospital for a year and don’t even have time to buy essentials, could wear them…”

We can only imagine what this period has been like for those who work inside a hospital every day—the fatigue of non-stop shifts and the weight of physical and psychological suffering one carries when facing fear, illness, and often death daily.

Giorgia’s dream (that is the name of the doctor who contacted us) seemed so right and possible to us—a small, symbolic redemption for a category of women who truly have done, and continue to do, so much for all of us.

We inquired about how many doctors and nurses were in that ward, their sizes, and their tastes. We arrived two days before Christmas, loaded with packages to deliver and put under the tree. Why am I telling you this? Because for Daniela and me, it was a beautiful moment—a satisfaction greater than any editorial in a magazine.

Seeing the smiles of these women and their joy in receiving our gifts, looking at the photos they sent us—looking stunning in our designs next to the Christmas tree—was an emotion more intense for us than any other gift.

I don’t ever want to forget that day because it gave a profound and important meaning to the work we do. It was a symbolic and spontaneous gesture to say thank you to all the women working in healthcare. At Crida, we make clothes, we don’t save lives, but we work in a sector—fashion—that is fundamental to the Italian economy and has been heavily hit by the pandemic.

Daniela and I thought about this project for a long time and debuted on the market exactly in January 2020, during the most disastrous and difficult year for this sector since the post-war era. These have been incredibly complicated months, a rollercoaster of emotions—from the encouraging feedback for our brand to the negative feelings facing the market freeze during lockdown.

Never, not even for a moment, did we think of giving up. We gritted our teeth, worked every day of the year—perhaps with a bit of recklessness, but with a determination that ultimately rewarded us.

2020 is over, and we, though with great effort, have survived. That is no small feat for a newborn brand, still little known in a world where competition is cutthroat.

Thank you to all of you who followed, encouraged, bought, and appreciated us. For us, every single online or store order was precious and helped us move forward, continuing to believe in “Made in Italy,” and in the quality and sustainability of our garments. It helped us see a glimmer of light.

The new Spring/Summer collection is about to arrive, filled with stunning colors, totally Italian silks, cottons, and linens—dresses that make you want to go out, to feel beautiful, and to be elegant and special even in everyday life.

Creating these clothes during the darkest period of our lives was like betting on optimism. This is the challenge we must all face today.

And so, in these first days of the new year, let’s try to counter painful memories with a list of joys, even small ones, that helped us through. If we don’t start by looking at the future with positivity ourselves, the world will be much harder to change.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Cristina and Daniela, from Crida