Who we are

Little Amigos was born when my husband and I visited Ecuador, South America in 2007. At the time we were volunteers at a centre for poor and disadvantaged children in the capital, Quito, and our experiences became the subject of a feature length article in Reader’s Digest HealthSmart magazine (Summer edition 2007/08). Please also see What’s news for more information and photos regarding our work. This enriching journey was part of a year-long sabbatical during which we also worked with the poor in Ethiopia, Africa.

As travellers we were privileged to experience many cultures that were so very different from our own. How wonderful!  The food, the music, the politics, the arts, the crafts, the religions, the languages………and then of course there was the clothing. And nothing matched the colour and brilliance of South America’s Andean mountain knitwear. I was so excited by what I saw that I wanted to show my friends, many of whom were young parents, back in Australia. I sent home some samples. My friends and most importantly, their kids, loved them.

And the rest is as you can imagine……Little Amigos was born.

The clothing you see on this website is suitable for one through to eight year-olds. It’s 50% wool, 50% cotton. And 100% practical!

The people who make the clothes are typically families who have benefited greatly from this industry. They work from their homes and usually multiple members of the family are involved. They use hand powered machinery (no electricity!) and each piece of clothing is finished with hand sewing giving that individual touch to each item and high quality.

We still financially support and offer advice to the San Roque Centre in Quito. Little Amigos is a start up company. Once set up costs have been recouped we will analyse returns and determine how big a percentage we can donate directly to the Child Care Centre. It will be a difficult process but we are committed to helping these people. We will keep you posted through the website with what we have been able to achieve. Should you wish to find out further information about our work or the centre, we’d be delighted to answer any questions. We hope the benefit will be two-fold: the people who make the jumpers have jobs; and we will be able to further improve the lives of the children we worked with.

The clothes are fun and funky. I love them. I hope you do too because I would like everyone to share the happiness of having a Little Amigo.

Clare Knight

Clare on hand washing duty.

James with Cesar.