Francisca Maldonado, Raindoor: revolutionizing the Chilean outdoor

Raindoor: revolutionizing the Chilean outdoor

Raindoor is a Chilean clothing brand created in 2015 by Alejandra Acevedo, it was born

based on a need detected by Alejandra in Chilean women, she saw that women's clothing

for trekking was boring and without its own identity, the people who used it did not feel

identified with it.

This is how she started designing only one sweatshirt, which she called "Chiporrón", and

today the brand has different products, sweatshirts, jackets, bikinis, jeans, among others.

At the moment, Raindoor is a brand established only in Chile, it has a physical store in

Santiago and an online store that ships throughout Chile. It should be noted that it is a

brand that is super committed to its customers, to the point that they have a repair shop for

their garments in the event that a button comes off or is unsewn in some area, since they

also know that a Raindoor garment lasts for years and It is not the idea that it is no longer

used just because of a small flaw.

Throsby (2008) notes: “The model proposes that the more pronounced the cultural content

of a particular good or service, the stronger is the claim of the industry producing it to be

counted as a cultural industry. Thus are the concentric circles delineated: at the centre are

core industries whose proportion of cultural to commercial content is judged according to

given criteria to be highest, with layers extending outwards from the centre as the cultural

content falls relative to the commercial value of the commodities or services produced.” (p.

149). Raindoor is located in the outermost circle of the Throsby Concentric Circle Model in

other productive sectors, since it is a design and fashion company dedicated to the sale of

their products.

Why should Raindoor also be considered a creative industry? Because its mission

according to its website is "Through a unique and original wardrobe, we seek to inspire

women to live a life full of outdoor adventures always connected with nature."
Francisca Maldonado, Raindoor: revolutionizing the Chilean outdoor

With this objective, Raindoor creates unique clothing in the market, having a marked seal

inspired by the south of Chile, the mountains, the desert and that women also feel

comfortable wearing these garments, creating a unique value by connecting clothing with

certain areas of our country. The idea is to create products made in Chile and that

represent the Chilean woman who enjoys life outdoors, also creating a high quality

garment that lasts over time and is not just fast fashion.

What are these products that Raindoor offers? They started with just one sweatshirt and

now they has dresses, pants, shorts, skirts, jackets, chiporros, sweaters, sweatshirts, t-

shirts and accessories.

Now on the other hand, as key creative and support roles we can highlight the work done

by the team of graphic designers through instagram and on the website, since the brand's

marketing is very well done and it is easy to identify the brand. They also have clothing

designers, among them the owner of the company herself contributes with designs, and

they are the ones who have a fundamental role because without them there would be no

Raindoor.

Finally, the value contributed by Raindoor to the creative industries of Chile has generated

a great impact, since the brand seeks fair trade and prefers to produce in Chile than send

its products to China. The founder, Alejandra Acevedo, tells to America Retail (2021) “Our

roots are in products made in Chile, and we seek to deliver great quality in clothing. When

we were presented with the opportunity to produce locally or in China, we immediately

decided to do it here, with fair trade in all production links, that is, quality salaries, inserting

ourselves into the reality of seamstresses and small producers and being able to help

them in their lives". This is why the brand prefers to work with Chilean artisans, in order to

promote local products over mass production.

As a personal opinion, I find that a strength of Raindoor is that it knew how to take

advantage of a Chilean market that no one else was exploiting. Raindoor is not interested
Francisca Maldonado, Raindoor: revolutionizing the Chilean outdoor

in following a fast fashion rhythm, they want their products to last and that is currently of

great interest to people, thanks to this they were able to grow quickly in the market.

As a weakness I must point out that having only one physical store in Chile can reduce

sales, many times people prefer to try on clothes because they do not trust the

measurement tables of online stores, if they had more physical stores they could be a

unicorn start up someday.

References:

Bobadilla, P. (2021, March 25). Marca chilena Raindoor apoya a comunidades de

artesanos del país. América Retail. https://www.america-retail.com/chile/marca-chilena-

raindoor-apoya-a-comunidades-de-artesanos-del-pais/

David Throsby (2008) The concentric circles model of the cultural industries, Cultural

Trends, 17:3, 147-164 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09548960802361951

Preguntas generals (n.d). Raindoor. https://www.raindoor.cl/pages/sad