In this episode, Philippa Hann talks to Eileen about what it takes to build a luxury fashion business where dignity, sustainability and profitability reinforce one another, why the concept of a brand is too limiting for what she is creating, and what other industries can learn from rebuilding a supply chain around the people inside it.
Eileen Akbaraly is the founder and CEO of Made for a Woman, a luxury fashion social enterprise based in Madagascar working with handwoven raffia. Half Italian, half Indian and raised in Madagascar, she trained in fashion only to find an industry obsessed with making more money rather than making better lives. After graduating she went to work in the slums of Phnom Penh, then returned home to build something different.
Six years on, Made for a Woman works with over 1,000 artisans, predominantly single mothers, gender-based violence survivors, disabled individuals and women from disadvantaged backgrounds. The company collaborates with major luxury houses, runs childcare facilities and is building a primary school, mental health centre and shelter on site. Eileen was awarded Gold for Individual Changemaker of the Year at the Global Good Awards.
In this conversation, you’ll hear about:
- Why CSR cannot be bolted on later: how Eileen built her supplier relationships, certifications and company culture around impact from the foundation, so doing the right thing is structural rather than heroic
- The SHAPE model and how Made for a Woman measures social stability, health, autonomy, professional development and economic empowerment as core KPIs alongside production
- Why happier artisans produce better work, why the company is hiring a “happy manager”, and how investing in wellbeing pays back in product quality and delivery
- The tension between handmade luxury and a fast-paced industry, and why even certified, B Corp, Fair Trade companies are still operating inside a system Eileen believes is fundamentally unsustainable
- Why she rejects the idea of being just a brand and is building a “living system” instead, with traceable supply chains, blockchain digital product passports, and a replication model now launching in Brazil
- How values get tested in practice: turning down well-connected collaborators and lower pricing that would have unlocked faster growth, because they did not fit the long-term vision
- Why the antidote to consumerism is community, why consumers need a real relationship with the people behind the products they buy, and what changes when that separation disappears
Key takeaway
Made for a Woman is a working argument that luxury and human flourishing are not opposites. The fashion industry has spent decades treating the people in the supply chain as invisible, then spending millions on marketing to sell the resulting products as dreams. Eileen’s case, built from inside one of the world’s biggest manufacturing hubs rather than from a boardroom in Europe, is that the dream is fake and the real value lives upstream, in the artisans, raw materials and communities that make the work possible. The shift is not just a better factory. It is a different definition of what luxury means and who it is for.
Find out how to enter the Global Good Awards 2026.
Want more practical ideas on ESG and purposeful leadership?
Follow Life Matters More and never miss an episode.
Subscribe here to listen on your favourite podcast platform.
The following podcast is intended to be of a general nature, will not be suitable for everyone, and should not be treated as a specific recommendation. We recommend taking professional advice before entering into any obligation or transaction.