The Moon Bear Print with Animals Asia

In September 2023, ALQUEMA designer Virginia Rouse introduced a print unlike any other in the label’s forty-year history. This print was designed not only to be worn, but to do something.

The Moon Bear print was created in partnership with Animals Asia, the international foundation dedicated to eradicating bear bile farming across Asia and improving the welfare of animals throughout the continent. A portion of every sale of Moon Bear printed garments was donated directly to the foundation.

Virginia designed the print from the animal itself. The Asian black bear, known as the moon bear for the distinctive crescent of pale fur across its chest. The design was produced in two colourways: a graphic black and white, and a vibrant rainbow version that carried the same bold silhouette in a completely different register. Both were produced in ALQUEMA’s signature hand-pleated fabric, the technique Virginia has been developing and refining since the label was founded in Sydney in 1983.

The Moon Bear print launched across ALQUEMA’s Sydney boutiques and online store, and sold internationally, reaching customers in Australia and beyond over the two years it was available. Every purchase contributed to Animals Asia’s work in the field.

About Animals Asia

Animals Asia works to end the practice of bear bile farming, in which bears are kept in captivity and subjected to painful extraction procedures for use in traditional medicine. The foundation operates bear sanctuaries in China and Vietnam, campaigns for legislative change, and works to shift attitudes toward wildlife across the region. More information is available at animalsasia.org.

Print with Purpose

The Moon Bear collaboration was an expression of something ALQUEMA has always believed: that the things we make carry meaning beyond their material. Virginia has spent four decades designing prints that are a considered response to a particular moment, a particular feeling, or in this case, a particular cause.

ALQUEMA remains open to charitable print collaborations where the cause and the craft can genuinely inform one another.