As October is Fair Trade month, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on what Fair Trade means for me and specifically for all of us at Yabal. I think for people that only look at Fair Trade through a business, money-bottom-line lens, it might not be the “smartest” business move. Normally in business
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An interview by Yabal volunteer, Kellie Shepherd Moeller, and Paulina Guachiac Guachiac (one of the leaders of the weaving cooperative from the community of Chuicutama). There are four young women leaders of the Pacutama/Chuicutama fair trade weaving cooperative of Yabal. They distribute the weaving orders between the rest of the 35 women, calculate prices and thread
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To share with our customers more about the amazing women artisans behind our Yabal Fair Trade accessories line, today, we want to introduce you to Santa, the president of the weaving cooperative of Pacutama in the region of Santa Catarina in the western highlands of Guatemala. Below is the english translation of the interview between Yabal volunteer,
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Each month, as part of our on-going entrepreneurship program, Y’abal offers job skills trainings for our group of 35 women weavers in the communities of Pacutama and Chuicutama, in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan. The idea is to teach them new skills and give them new ideas for generating income out of small home businesses. The communities
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Creating a new product for Y’abal is always an organic and surprising process. It requires flexibility and openness on both ends- from the designer, as well as, from the women’s cooperative. We begin with an idea or a drawing which we take to the women weavers of the communities of Pacutama and Chuicutama, in the rural
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We wanted to share a little more about the talented Y’abal seamstresses responsible for transforming the handwoven cloth from the women weavers into bags, accessories, and… Pillow PETS! Today, we introduce you to Silvia: Born and raised in Quetzaltenango, Silvia was only 10 years old when she started sewing- learning from her father, a tailor
Continue reading »The Zig Zag collection is Y’abal’s newest collection of hand-embroidered totes and purses. The embroidery on the front of the bags is meticulously woven into the cloth by hand, point by point, as the woman artisan weaves the cloth back and forth on the back-strap loom. This indigenous weaving art technique is centuries old!
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Each year, for the last 8 years, Y’abal has offered micro-credits to between 15-20 families in the community of Chuicutama- without interest. The majority of the families use this small credit to rent farmland in other communities- with better growing conditions than the soil in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan. However, some families use the money to
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In 2016, Y’abal initiated our newest social program with the communities of Pacutama and Chuicutama- educational scholarships! After countless informal conversations with community members over the importance of education for their children, it was obvious that education is a priority for the majority of the women and families we work with in Pacutama and Chuicutama.
Continue reading »The embroidery designs that are incorporated in Y’abal’s products are traditional symbols from the communities of Pacutama and Chuicutama. Each indigenous community in Guatemala has their own particular style and motif of embroidery designs.Each woman is an artist and takes creative freedom in the expression of her embroidery patterns. One common design in the communities
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