La Dona True Origins brand

La Dona Fruit has launched a vibrant brand for its avocados and limes destined for Europe and the US.

The ‘True Origins by La Dona’ label features multi-coloured Pre-Columbian symbols reflecting the colour, light, and music of the indigenous Andes culture and tropical environment of Colombia and Peru where the company’s Hass avocados and Tahiti limes are grown almost year round using an artisan-style approach.

From September, the eye catching design will be printed onto La Dona’s 4.5kg corrugated cardboard boxes for export to Europe, as well as its 18kg (40lb) boxes for the US.

“The world needs a little more colour right now, and we want customers interacting with our brand to see something on the brighter side,” said Oscar Baracaldo, La Dona Fruit’s head of customer experience.

“True Origins by La Dona is a more dynamic design that epitomises the colour and light of the Andean culture, particularly the power of the sun from the Pre-Columbian era.”

Baracaldo continued: “We continue to develop our farms and grower relationships to deliver the best that The Andes region has to offer.

“By marrying ancient, local techniques together with up-to-date crop management practices, we can produce the rich and complex flavours that are found in La Dona’s fruit grown at different altitudes across The Andes.”

The new branding marks a stark contrast to the previous black opaque design used for La Dona’s Hass avocados from Colombia and Peru, and Tahiti limes from Colombia. In the future, the brand may be expanded for other fruit exports within La Dona’s basket.

“We became tired of the previous black box, especially during this pandemic,” said Baracaldo. “Our attractive True Origins by La Dona campaign brings into our lives some much-needed colour, sunshine, and music from the Tropics at this strange time.”

La Dona has been exporting Colombian Tahiti limes to Europe since November 2019, and is just starting exports to the US, having recently begun shipments of Colombian and Peruvian Hass avocados to Europe.

The company exports almost year round, and is approaching its peak supply period for limes. This coincides with a gap on the European market during autumn/fall, and a gap on the US market beyond November and December.

The company expects to supply 2,100 tonnes of limes by the end of this year.