Run the world.
the pirate collection
Being a woman is hard enough, and being a racialized woman is harder still. You know how it feels. Every choice we make, from the way we speak to the clothes we wear, is a calculated one. We have to look professional but not stuck up, stylish but not superficial, assertive but not aggressive... Until we realize that we can't beat the system by playing by the rules. We have to write our own: be loud, visible and free, unapologetically.
the scarlet pledge
The fashion industry runs on extraction. Virgin materials get pulled from the earth, made into products that are either designed to be discarded, or destroyed by brands to keep shelves moving and demand artificially high. And while the industry strips natural resources bare, it also strips our communities: lifting aesthetics, culture, and identity from subcultures and minorities without giving us credit or compensation.
In this game, everybody loses. We refuse to play it.
So we set our own terms.
we only produce what you order
Our pre-order model means every garment has a home before it exists. We make the piece you want in the size you need. No pieces quietly destroyed to protect a margin. No overproduction. No clearance racks.
we never use synthetic fibers
We're not being snobs, but we won't be caught dead with polyester. As far as we're concerned, only natural materials make the cut. Wool. Silk. Cotton. Linen. Hemp. Materials that breathe, age, and last.
And when we source them, we follow two rules: it's either deadstock or it's certified. Deadstock always comes first: we find excess from high-end manufacturers and luxury houses, and divert it before it becomes waste. As a second option, virgin materials must be certified. There is no third option, no shortcuts and no compromise.
we keep suppliers close
Our supply chain is small by design. We buy our deadstock fabrics in France and our certified fabrics in Italy and Portugal. Our products are manufactured in a family-run atelier in Barcelos, right outside of Porto. Everything else, from buttons to hangtags, comes from the same Portuguese town. The only way we could do better is if you moved there, too.
made by and for Pirates
Scarlet Empyre is built from the outside in, by and for women who know that to get ahead is to work twice as hard, look twice as good, never make mistakes and still never feel quite good enough. We know what it means to go places you weren't expected, to build something in a system that wasn't designed with you in mind.
We're Pirates!
We reclaim our freedom, our creativity, our power to rebuild a world where we actually count.
Without compromise. Without apology.
to Paris
is an ode to the women who fight the status quo by going places they're not expected, and often not welcome. From the Banlieues to Paris, from outsiders to leaders, we're pirates! We reclaim our freedom, our creativity, our power to rebuild a world where we actually count.
Without compromise.
Without apology.
Empyre
Scarlet
from the banlieues