Sofía Sanchez de Betak lives out of her suitcase. The art director, fashion consultant, and designer has made a career out of exploring various corners of the world and finding inspiration in the most unexpected locales. For her latest venture, she journeyed back to a place she knows well and loves deeply—her native Argentina. On June 1, De Betak will launch Chufy, a clothing line inspired by her travels around the world and for the first iteration, South America in particular. The collection includes around 25 pieces of ready-to-wear and accessories priced between $495 and $2,890, and will be sold exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman in New York, Colette in Paris, The Webster in Miami and Houston, and on MatchesFashion.com.
De Betak went straight to the source for Chufy, hiring local Argentine artisans to make all of the clothes. She worked with the decades-old Aux Charpentiers atelier in Buenos Aires on linen gaucho pants, a young up-and-coming tailor called Juan Hernandez Daels on the traditional silhouettes, artist Mercedes Güiraldes on the hand-embroidery, and Giribet on the riding boots, among others. “I collaborated with young and contemporary designers as well as with the traditional gaucho clothes-makers,” De Betak explains. “I wanted to create a balance between them and I think it’s very important to preserve the knowledge of the artisans because it’s fading away in every culture.”
In the very near future, De Betak plans to create collections inspired by other destinations such as Japan and Kenya. “Every place has a different aesthetic,” she says. “Every place has a different influence and an identity that I would love to highlight through Chufy. I am always researching for my next adventure.”
Above, a first look at Chufy and the Argentinean people and places that inspired the debut collection.
