Our Story

DINADI was founded April 11, 2016 with the belief that social entrepreneurship and job creation, not handouts, are the way to bring lasting change to developing communities. Many things have changed since that day but DINADI’s social mission to create job opportunities for Nepali women affected by poverty and gender discrimination remains the compass that guides each decision and step we take.

FOUNDERS PRESTON AND MIRJAM THIESSEN

Growing up we both were taught that our life choices can make a difference in this world. Preston comes from Canada and is a perfectionist who loves the intricacies of business. Mirjam comes from Sweden and is a people person who is creative and as passionate about knitting as anyone you’ll ever meet. As our stories merged and we have explored the world together, we have become convinced that social entrepreneurship and job creation, not handouts, are the way to bring lasting change to developing communities. In 2012, we, together with our 3 children, moved to Nepal to pursue this conviction. We were quickly confronted with a world much different from our own – a country deeply affected by the enslaving cycle of poverty where injustice is a sad reality. We heard story after story of hardship and injustice but were at the same time amazed by the resiliency and generosity of the people we met. We quickly fell in love with the country and its people and decided to make Nepal our home.


4 years and much experience later, we officially launched DINADI on April 16, 2016 in the modest space of our own living room in Kathmandu. During that first half year we trained our first 40 knitters, moved into an office space, created our first collection of 5 designs in 3 colours on Kickstarter and quickly saw the campaign exceed our goal by more than 200%. We were humbled by the massive response to our products and quickly realized there was a demand for what we were making – high quality, sustainable and ethical knitwear. It became clear to us that our personal conviction was shared by many and the movement of conscious consumption was growing.


Much has happened since those first days in our living room. We’ve since moved from Nepal and are living in Sweden where we continue to work to oversee DINADI’s continued growth. We continue to own and operate our own production in Nepal, overseeing all areas to maximize transparency and social impact. We are committed to see our social mission carried out in the day to day running of our DINADI and can proudly say that our Nepali managers have taken ownership of and are furthering DINADI’s social impact in the way they run our operations in Nepal.


One thing is for sure, DINADI wouldn’t be what it is today without the time and efforts of many amazing people we’ve been privileged to work together with. From our employees to interns, friends and family, stockists around the world and customers who purchase our products all share in DINADI’s story and all are part of DINADI’s impact in the nation of Nepal.