Meet Tewün, a New Outerwear Brand from a Polo-Playing Patagonian Gaucho

It’s not that successful designers also sell identities, even if the archetypes they’re peddling (cowboy, movie star, etc.) have little to do with their own lived experience. By contrast, founder Ruso Sorzana stresses that the , and his brand produces from all-natural materials were designed to meet his own needs as a real-life gaucho —i.e., South American cowboy—herding, hunting and ranching in Argentine Patagonia.

The descendent of English and Italian immigrants, Sorzana counts himself a fifth-generation Patagonian, and grew up riding on his family’s ranch. His passion for horsemanship fostered a love of polo, and Sorzana dreamed of going pro—an aspiration he compares to the Jamaican bobsled team pursuing Olympic glory in Cool Runnings. In the end, Sorzana rose above his remote surr