Our Story

About

Polished Coconut is a business with a social mission. I collaborate with select groups of artisans to preserve their cultural heritage and help elevate select crafts to their highest design expression. I have believed for over two decades that empowering women behind the craft through optimal pricing, fair trade, and microcredit financing is the key to long term socio economic development within these communities.

Together, we respond to the growing consumer demand for socially conscious home and fashion products and meet head on the critical need for environmental sustainability and conservation of exceptional ancestral craftsmanship.

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About The Founder

As a young girl, Alicia Kossick marveled at her grandmother’s incomparable poise and flair for fashion. She would mix the styles of her native Mexican roots with pieces from American designers of the 1970s: Halston, Bill Blass, Adolfo, Ralph Lauren, and more. She was a dream to see. Alicia always aspired to her grace and sensibility — that eclectic clothing, impeccable aesthetic, warm heart, and unparalleled Mexican cooking. Her entire essence made everyone feel welcome. 

The stories of her grandmother’s heritage from the Mexican port town of Tampico – the walks around the plaza, long lunches, and the breezes of the Gulf intermittent with the sounds of the accordions and trumpets were an important cultural memory from which Alicia developed the concept of artisan couture. She observed the women hurry down the windy Mexican cobblestone streets crisply and cleanly dressed in white shirts and colorful skirts – they looked comfortable and elegant. They were working carrying large baskets and children and their feminine, yet rugged clothes became a passion. Alicia began to research and acquire vintage folkloric traditional dress and culture with a deeper intention. 

Polished Coconut started 18 years ago built upon this idea of honoring the spirit of tradition and authenticity of brave, resilient, hardworking, and creative women. Today, through the expansive network of independent artisans whose work she champions, Alicia provides over 200 women the wages and recognition to elevate their craft. Every stitch, pull, loop and braid are testament to their human creativity, ancestral art and the celebration of cultural heritage. It is her goal to help protect and promote culture and identity through craft and foster our shared responsibility to explore deeper connection and understanding of one another through one extraordinary piece at a time.

Our Pledge

Polished Coconut maintains the highest standards of quality, craftsmanship, ethics, and beauty. We are pioneers or sustainability – one of a small select group to sell socially conscious goods that empower women through fair trade.

Our relationships with women artisans has deepened as we’ve connected them to buyers from around the world and helped to inspire newer and more creative products. Our selections are rooted in tradition, beauty, social consciousness, the preservation of cultural heritage and the empowerment of women.

Our relationships with women artisans has deepened as we’ve connected them to buyers from around the world and helped to inspire newer and more creative products. Our selections are rooted in tradition, beauty, social consciousness, the preservation of cultural heritage and the empowerment of women.

Because of Polished Coconut’s commitment to cooperative economics, we’ve never strayed far from the ancestral craft. We believe in old-fashioned design sessions under thatched huts and the star-filled night sky. We’ve dug deep to inspire both ourselves and our customers and fill our online boutique with the most exceptional bespoke pieces from across the planet.

Polished Coconut strives to pass along the same style and attributes embodied by the women in my family: strength, hard work, generosity, a down-to-earth attitude, and of course — Always Polished!

Recognition And Publications