The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Ma. Cristina C. Arayata / Philippines News Agency
Who are you wearing?
You may have noticed that, at red-carpet events, the usual question posed to celebrities wearing designer clothes is not “What are you wearing?” but “Who are you wearing?”
Some people may pay attention when entertainers mention names like Coco Chanel, Valentino (Garavani), Kenneth Cole and Christian Louboutin. Well-heeled Filipinos, for their part, are proud to wear Francis Libiran, Monique Lhuiller, Michael Cinco and Rajo Laurel creations at parties.
But how many of them would say they are wearing piña, hinabol and abaca? These days, when people post their outfit of the day, or OOTD, on social-media sites, how many of them are sporting an outfit made from indigenous fibers?
Last week, Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo said the Philippine textile industry had faced some challenges in previous years. These include the closure of hundreds of commercial mills, decline in local manufacturers, the influx of imported textiles and apparel, and the emergence of global brands penetrating the local market.
“There’s a very low demand for handloomed fabrics, because it is an undervalued…material,” said Joy Anya T. Lim, managing director of Anthill Fabrics Gallery, She added that there’s no nurturing environment for the younger generation to learn making those materials.
When Lim established Anthill Fabrics, she noticed that community weavers are mostly old women. She thinks that one of the reasons there’s a weak cultural transmission of the skill of weaving is that people have a notion that a dress made of indigenous fibers is a costume, and that it cannot be worn everyday.
“Why will I wear a placemat or a blanket? That’s what people often say,” she said.
Working together
To address these challenges, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) made sure science and technology (S&T) will be used to enhance the production of indigenous materials. As proof, the agency launched the Innovation Center for Yarns and Textiles (ICYT) last year.
Through S&T, the Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI), one of the DOST’s attached agencies, is now able to produce blended yarns of abaca and pineapple fiber with 30-percent indigenous fiber content.
Montejo said the agency can now produce fabrics with 20-percent, 30-percent, and 40-percent indigenous yarn blends.
According to the DOST chief, this has significant implications for the finished-product manufacturer, through a unique product preposition.
“A local brand manufacturer has expressed interest in the abaca blend for knit possibilities; another is working on a capsule collection, with fabrics to be produced by provincial weavers; and a third is working on (the) design development of a fabric weave….” Montejo said.
He said the agency is looking at new paradigms on how stakeholders, particularly small and micro enterprises, may be enabled by technology to produce more and better at a lower cost.
Anthill Fabrics, as an enterprise, on the other hand, offers contemporary designs that anyone can wear. It also customizes products and does a lot of collaborations.
Lim said her company wants to address cultural degradation and sustainable livelihood. To do this, it offers fabrics, apparel, and even plush toys, to make sure the products are, indeed, for everyone.
She longs for the day when young people would totally understand that wearing a weave isn’t baduy (old-fashioned).
There are other advocates of Philippine textiles, such as Sen. Loren Legarda and Jean Goulbourn, who clarified that she’s not a designer, but a stylist.
When it comes to designs, Goulbourn suggested that one should not stick to the ancient, as this would not sell. She wants Filipino designers to be fearless.
Goulbourn showed interest in helping Anthill Fabrics in its advocacies and in improving its products. She is also interested to collaborate with Montejo and the PTRI.
Meanwhile, the PTRI has collaborated with the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) in creating a bilingual technical manual on handloom-weaving.
PTRI director Celia Elumba said the manual will help the weaving communities in taking the step-by-step process in weaving.
With these advocates and the DOST taking the Philippine textile industry to the next level, their efforts are seen to go a long way.
When the time comes that somebody would ask what are we wearing, I hope we could proudly say “piña,” “abaca” or even “vegetable fiber.”