In Uruapan, the second largest city in the state of Michoacán, there used to be a blooming textile industry. A factory employed 80 full-time weavers and used to supply 500 meters of top quality fabrics every day to clients all over Mexico, the US and beyond. A large part of their business consisted of hand-woven textiles for interior products, so when we heard a small part of it was still operational, we had to go and take a look!
What we found was but a fraction of it’s former glory, but how glorious it was! The factory is housed in a very old brick building (part of it was once a prison!), overgrown with vines and other wild plants and had parts of looms scattered around all over the place. Time had taken it’s toll and many things were in a bad state of decay, but everything needed for weaving fabrics of the finest quality was still there. Although dusty, the looms that weren’t taken apart were still operational and of the original employees, three still remained (part-time) so their expertise wouldn’t be lost completely. They were looking for opportunities to continue their operation, before it was too late and the last of the weavers would retire without transferring their knowledge to a new generation. We felt like we got there just in time! We were looking for ways to produce in larger volumes, without sacrificing quality and while maintaining the artisanal production process. It seems like a perfect match! We might be able to place the kind of orders they need to turn the tide and they might be able to provide us with the steady supply we need in order to do business with larger retailers. I really, really, really hope the sample we ordered comes out well, because this could be the collaboration of both our dreams! Comments are closed.
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