What pairs well with luxury and largesse? Nantucket, of course.
High-end philanthropic fashion retailer Olivela launches an inaugural brick-and-mortar pop-up on the island this month. Shop designer brands like Givenchy and Stella McCartney and feel good doing it — 20 percent of proceeds go to charities that benefit female education worldwide.
London entrepreneur Stacey Boyd founded Olivela to support CARE, funding education for girls at risk of becoming adolescent brides; the Malala Fund, focusing on secondary education in countries housing Syrian refugees; and Too Young to Wed, a nonprofit that originated in Afghanistan, devoted to ending child marriage and providing support to child-marriage survivors. Boyd also runs Schoola, an online retailer that sells new and gently used clothing to raise money for US schools.
With Olivela, “We focus on education for girls in countries where they might not otherwise have an education,’’ she says. She came up with the idea after a trip to Kenyan and Rwandan refugee camps in 2016 with activist Malala Yousafzai, who started the Malala Fund. While taking photos, says Boyd, “I reached into my bag and realized that, for a fraction of its cost, I could send one of these girls to school for a year.’’
Boyd says that shoppers have already provided 6,731 days of school to Syrian refugees, for instance.
Today, Olivela sells more than 200 high-end brands and plans to launch 15 more boutiques through 2019. At the Nantucket shop, customers can browse Dior shoes and Prada sunglasses; when they pick up an item, a video will play showing where the money goes.
“You can pick up a pair of shoes and learn what makes them so special, as well as learn about the girl it might help support in Jordan,’’ she says.
Online shoppers can also connect their purchase with a consequence; a $90 tub of Goop eye cream, for example, pays for two days of school.
The pop-up boutique is slated to open June 25 and will run through the summer at 25 Centre St.
Kara Baskin can be reached at kara.baskin@globe.com.
