By Yael Falicov | Latin America Program Director, IDEX
AFEDES has made tremendous progress in less than one year towards its goal of making traditional weaving more viable. In summary, the key outcomes of this project this far are as follows:
(1) Local weavers have access to affordable, high quality thread through the TUPUEDES store. This lowers the cost of production and therefore increases the profit margin, while improving product quality.
(2) Through the traditional clothing sales at the TUPUEDES store, young indigenous women have access to a variety of handwoven Mayan textiles, including new, more affordable local designs produced by AFEDES members. This helps preserve indigenous identity and culture in a market flooded by mass-produced, non-traditional clothing.
(3) AFEDES members are improving their income-generating skills through receiving training in the production of new textiles. This includes new styles of indigenous clothing aimed at the local market, and new products for the international market.
(4) AFEDES members are improving their income by producing a new clothing line for the TUPUEDES store.
(5) AFEDES is expanding its sales to the international market through its relationship with Mercado Global. The members are poised to diversify their income in this area through the production of new designs and through IDEX-promoted linkages to other international textile distributors.
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