WHO ARE YOU?
Diana Carolina Yanes, a multidisciplinary designer working mainly in shoes. Founder, CEO and designer for Diana Yanes Consulting
WHAT did you do?
I've been a creative mind all my life, and since I started working, before I graduated from Istituto Marangoni in Milan, I started working in the footwear industry. While I was working in the industry, I realized there was a big need of independent professionals, who could merge design, product innovation and sustainability. That is why I created Diana Yanes Consulting, a consulting firm working mainly in the footwear industry. At the moment, we design up to 20 collections per year, we have two factories we collaborate with in the Italian territory, as well as more than a 1.000 Italian suppliers for any kind of materials.
Our way is to operate in the most possible sustainable way, and guide our clients towards that direction. It is not always an immediate process, but we believe that, through our good practices and example, we manage little by little to persuade them and understand not just the importance, but that it is also cool to do well. We recently opened an "educational brand", for people willing to enter the industry, as well as education of professionals from the industry always willing to integrate better sustainable practices in their companies.
HOW did you do it?
A lot of trial and error. I've lived in 6 different cities, always working in the fashion industry. I once had a brand, but I understood that I wanted to be able to give more, and I found that in the consulting. While I had Aletheia Milano, my shoes brand, started doing small consulting projects for many brands, I understood immediately that it was a good way to help many companies at the same time, and therefore to leave a better footprint in the industry.
WHEN did you start your company?
I started consulting in 2015, but projects were really small and it was all word of mouth. I finally understood I had something big in my hands in 2018, so I started getting more structured.
WHY are you innovating with this product or service?
I am innovating with this product because I actually have no competitors that integrate ethics, aesthetics and innovations while looking to create a healthy business. In the market there are some design studios, which are extremely creative, but they work for small capsule collections, their style is so avant garde that just really creative people would use it. Then you have some companies operating in sustainability, but they are SO expensive, that few companies could afford that service. We give really fair prices, and our goal is to help as many companies as we can. We know how to work with small brands, as well as with huge ones. We just try to adapt as much as we can and give each brand what they need.
WHERE are you from?
I am originally from Venezuela, currently living in Milan, Italy.
INDUSTRY:
Footwear industry, fashion industry, sustainability
SOCIAL MEDIA:
@dianayanes_consulting
