Our History

Over thirty years ago, Archive Collection opened its doors in the heart of New York City's garment district.

Founded by Ruth Guimaraes Heget and her ex-husband, Andre Heget, the two traveled many years together, collecting antique documents from all over Europe, North and South America, and Asia. In France and Italy, they collected many 18th and 19th Century documents from mills that were closed during World War II.

Following their passion, the pair acquired so many antique textiles, documents and antique swatch books, that they decided to open their first studio in Como, Italy in 1983.

Our new showroom location is at Mana Contemporary, 888 Newark Ave. studio 367, Jersey City, NJ 07306

The collection grew every year and so did the client base. Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne, Calvin Klein, Donna Karen, Jones NY, Geoffrey Beene, Dan River, Echo, Schumacher to name a few.

In 2007, Ruth became the sole owner of the company, responsible for new acquisitions and purchasing of new collections. She decided to move Archive Collection to a larger location in order to better accommodate her ever expanding client base and textile team.

In 2011, Ruth partnered up with Diana Koka, the textile library director, who has been familiar with and part of the studio since 2002.

Ruth and Diana closely follow global fashion trends and Ruth is continuously traveling the world, seeking unique and rare textiles. Her favorite phrase: "For designers and in our industry, the process of creation gives us an inexhaustible source of possibilities."

  • Ruth Guimaraes Heget

    PRESIDENT

    Ruth was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1983 she moved to Paris, the center of the fashion world. There she met and married André Heget, who shared with her his passion for historical fabrics and prints. Together, they traveled the world collecting antique textile books from the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1993, Ruth founded Archive Collection. She has a M.A. degree in Textile Design and continues to travel all over the world to enhance the Archive Collection's library.

  • Diana Koka

    TEXTILE LIBRARY DIRECTOR/CO-OWNER

    Diana has been working in the fashion industry since 1994 and she is working at Archive Collection since 2002. She maintains, organizes the library and takes on all the “behind the scenes” tasks, and day-to-day operations. Her knowledge and passion for prints and designs, along with her refined eyes make her one of the best vintage fabric researchers. Diana also did menswear design in the past for 7 years at Roytex, Inc. She became partner in 2011.