OTRA Workshop is one of the most singular stories in Uruguayan fashion. Gustavo Rodríguez Olivera started out in 2016 in a garage in Pocitos, and in 2021 opened El Refugio Oriental in La Juanita, his first retail space. The proposal crosses gaucho aesthetics with a rock spirit, in high-end garments made with one hundred percent Uruguayan raw materials, including vintage fabrics rescued from vanished factories like Paylana.

Trained alongside a master tailor, Rodríguez Olivera turned that rescue of Uruguay's textile heritage into a project that today also has shops in Ciudad Vieja and the United States, with growing sales in Europe. In La Juanita, the refuge works as a shop-workshop where each piece is practically one of a kind. If you want to take home something genuinely from here, few options beat it.