Marcella Echevarria

Sector: Lifestyle, Artisan and Designer, Branding luxury and sustainability 

Marcella Echavarria is a lifestyle specialist. She collaborates with designers and artisans around the world developing links that connect local knowledge with global trends.  Her specialty is branding luxury and sustainability in a way that preserves cultures and traditions. 

Marcella has 25 years of hands-on, first-hand experience in starting businesses, establishing bridges between cultures and people and integrating sustainability and profitability. She founded SURevolution in 2005 in collaboration with Donna Karan, one of the first global brands to link the world of luxury with the handmade.  

In 2010 she started her boutique consulting firm focused on strategic branding and creative communication. She holds a bachelor from Brown University, a masters in sustainable development from Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano and a career in the publishing world as editor of magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Hand Eye and contributor to many others such as Selvedge, Vogue, House and Leisure, Cover Magazine, Trend Tablet and Konfekt, among many others. 

In 2018 Marcella started XTANT, a yearly global gathering dedicated to heritage textiles, along with Kavita Parmar. 

She co-teaches the course Crafting Your Brand specially tailored for textile businesses in collaboration with Polly Leonard from Selvedge Magazine. She is a frequent speaker at universities and sustainability forums.  

Her clients include individual creators, artisanal brands, textile related brands, retail concepts, and travel companies, among others. She has led consulting projects for The United Nations (UN), Unesco, USAID, Technoserve, The International Finance Corporation (IFC), The Organization of American States (OAS), Vital Voices, Porticus Foundation, The Governments of Spain, Colombia, Chile, Cambodia, México, Perú, and Swaziland.