By Rosemary Little | Project Leader
For the past four years the Eldorado Textile Project has provided a creative outlet for women in Eldorado Diadema, a marginalized area of São Paulo, who learn textile skills in a supportive and empowering group environment and earn a small income from the sale of their products. Part of our longer-term vision was to set up a vocational textile course for local young people with an emphasis on ethical, sustainable fashion. An opportunity to do this was made possible in 2020 by a generous donation from the US for the creation of a dedicated textile workspace with industrial standard sewing machines and appropriate ventilation and lighting.
Starting a course during a pandemic posed problems, but it provided an important opportunity for young people living in an economically deprived area, who have had no normal school attendance for over a year and who now face even greater disadvantages in their education and employment prospects.
The Textiles and Fashion course was initiated with seven students in October 2020. As well as the design and production of garments, the course includes training in entrepreneurship and advice and help for setting up a microenterprise. We have used our funding to date to pay Carol, the teacher and coordinator of the course.
The students’ first task was to adjust and upcycle some of their own clothes, an exercise that gave rise to discussion about how new clothes are made, the fashion industry and the problems associated with it. Thrift stores, which in Brazil are generally viewed negatively, are currently closed, but some of the funding has been set aside to give the students an allowance to visit them when they reopen and buy articles of clothing to adapt for reuse.
Due to the severity of the pandemic, ACER was closed on March 14, but was able to reopen on May 3 when São Paulo changed from red to orange zone, and our teenagers are looking forward to resuming in-person classes. Some of the funds will now be used for sewing machine accessories and ongoing haberdashery needs such as specialised threads and fastenings for garment making. The course is scheduled to continue until December 2022, and we plan to cover the remaining costs from the main Eldorado Textile Project budget or external funding.
One of our students, Átala, writes:
‘I love the course, I was able to make new friends and learn a lot about sewing, things I had no idea about! For a while I’ve been wanting to learn how to sew, both for career reasons and for the skills that I would acquire, and it would be an understatement to say that the course is amazing, fun and has plenty of content. Up to now we have already dyed, adapted our clothes to our body, learned that "no body is the same", and made several pieces for our portfolio of work, learning more interesting and useful things every day.’
Thank you so much for helping to make this course a reality!
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