#6: Pattanarak Foundation: weaving fair trade & development

“Fair trade” is one of the principles of TAMMACHAT. Sometimes our customers ask us what that means; sometimes we ask ourselves whether we are actually able to practice it, given the many production stages involved in creating textiles.

Each piece of cloth (or finished textile product) involves many participants and processes, which add value at each step, to the initial raw commodity – fibre. Adding value and allowing people to earn income in their own communities are major goals of community development. At the same time, those additional steps make it difficult to employ the cooperative model common to agricultural commodities, such as coffee or sugar.

These issues were illustrated this week and last when we spent 8 days with villagers working with the Pattanarak Foundation, a non-governmental organization that works with disadvantaged populations in the rural border areas of Thailand.

Pattanarak has established numerous cotton production groups along the Thai-Lao border to help women set up a sustainable source of income in their “Alternative Livelihoods" program. With social networks and skills developed through these groups, as well as the income they make through the program, many women have gone on to participate in other community development programs, such as group savings and loans schemes.

To learn about Pattanarak first hand, and to see whether we would consider products purchased from them “fairly traded,” we signed up for a study tour with Pattanarak. We were based in Khong Chiam, home to the Nam Song Sii (i.e., Two-Colour Water), where the mighty Mekong meets the Moon River. We learned more about how villagers grow cotton without chemicals along the banks of the Mekong and how they transform them into extraordinary cloth – entirely by hand. And we were able to spend time with a number of the women involved with the program.

As we said throughout our time with Pattanarak, we were having “fun with language” too, each day building our Thai language skills with Aew, our capable and skilled development guide, who used our time together to grow her own English vocabulary and comfort speaking. Our 2 dictionaries were well-thumbed and our textile-related Thai (and Aew's English) vocabulary grew by leaps and bounds.

Ellen will post a photo essay to illustrate the entire production process – from growing the cotton organically along the banks of the Mekong to the finished fibre product, whether a bag, shirt, tablecloth or stuffed elephant!

And I will post another entry about TAMMACHAT, Pattanarak and fair trade that I hope will shed more light on what we're learning about what fair trade really means at a village level.

Happy reading!

Pii Plaa (aka Alleson)

#5: Happy In: visiting Panmai Group

When we visit Panmai Group, we get a bit farther off the track; their office is located so it's convenient for their members rather than their customers. From Bangkok it's a train, then a bus and finally a songtheow to get there. [A songteow is a pickup truck fitted with 2 bench seats and a roof. It serves as a shared taxi and usually has an established route in areas too marginal to have bus routes.] This year we shared the songteow with 30 other passengers, mostly young teenagers travelling back to their villages on a Friday late afternoon.

The weather was fine and the roads were paved so it was all good, if a little crowded. At our destination, we checked into "The Happy In" (sic): a 'no-tell mo-tel' where clients' vehicles are discreetly parked behind hot pink curtains, rooms are equipped with large horizontal mirrors and condoms are free. We're told that it's also the only accommodation in town that has hot water showers and air conditioners. We appreciate the hot water and laugh about the rest, as do the locals when they ask us where we're staying.

The best part of the story, however, is the fact that Panmai seems to be doing better every time we visit them. Or perhaps the best part is the incredible colours that the group's members are able to achieve when they dye their village-raised, organic silk with local barks and other plant stuffs.

Regardless, the 2 days we spent with their 3 staff women were very productive. We chose more than 100 beautiful silk scarves in nature's rich shades of magenta and burnt orange, cedar and salmon, indigo and ebony. We also created and assembled 3 palettes of our popular silk squares (275 pieces!) including 2 new mudmee patterns -- one in a frosted cherry and one in a spray of spring leaves. (You'll have to wait to see these new palettes in person, but we'll have them on our website in April.)

We also discussed world economic trends with the office staff; all of us strategizing about sustaining our businesses in this time of economic downturns. They told us how important their export customers are for them and explained their new pricing structure that discounts domestic sales to remain competitive. We assured them that we were OK with the price differential that results in approximately 15% higher prices for their foreign customers, pricing more in line with what the weavers think they really should be receiving for their work.

We, in turn, explained that we could choose slightly narrower and/or shorter scarves, sizes which are actually well suited to our customers' tastes, and thereby maintain a lower price per item despite the double whammy of the Canadian's dollar's decline and the economic downturn.

By the end of the 2nd day, after much sticky rice and really spicy papaya salad, and after much translating, laughing and productive labour, we saw our box of treasures go off to the post office, said our goodbyes andf got onto the next bus, headed east-southeast to Ubon.

We left with the good feeling that TAMMACHAT, along with Panmai, will likely find a way through these economic troubles: not by squeezing our suppliers but by finding fair ways to keep prices in line with our customers' means.

Pop gan mai (Until next time),

Pii Plaa (aka Alleson)

#4: Pa Ao Weaving Group: silk specialists

Two years ago, we rented a motorbike in the small city of Ubon Ratchathani, close to the Mekong River in Thailand's Northeast, and made our way -- with the help of a map and a hunch -- to Ban Pa Ao, a village known for its fine quality of silk weaving. When we found the village, we found it home to a large, village-based women's weaving group. We had also hoped to find naturally dyed silks there and were not disappointed.

This group is one of many that has received OTOP recognition. OTOP -- One Tamboon, One Product -- is a program started many years ago by a previous government. It gives star ratings to products that range from foods to simple handicrafts to superb textiles, designating products considered outstanding in each district. The Pa Ao Weaving Group, which also refers to itself as Glum Satrii (Homemakers' Group), has received 4 and 5 star OTOP ratings in past years for its superlative weaving.

On that first visit, we bought several naturally dyed silk scarves from the group's village shop. Unlike any designs we'd seen before, these scarves showcased mudmee designs (the tie-dyeing of the thread prior to weaving) with a seldom-seen contemporary flare.


We had hoped to meet this group again at last year's OTOP fair in Bangkok. Remarkably, we did find the group amongst the hundreds of stalls at last year's fair but they didn't have the scarves we were searching for and we were unable to describe them well enough to make an order.





Which brings this post to yesterday, when we set out on another rented motorbike in search of these unusual scarves. We arrived in the early afternoon to find 3 very helpful women at the Ban Pa Ao weaving shop but not the elusive scarves.

Rather than trying to persuade us to consider the conventionally dyed scarves that some of their members continue to produce, the staff took the opportunity to bring out some extraordinary, handwoven, naturally dyed silk fabrics that are available by the metre. We couldn't resist buying 5 particularly beautiful pieces (3 of which are shown below). These will be available upon our return home to Canada in April.

This piece has an amazing sheen with small vertical stripes. It's dyed with indigo and coconut husks soaked until the colour leaches into the water.







This piece is woven in a delicate flower pattern called dok pikhuun. It has a soft gray colour that is created with a dried fruit that is then boiled, pounded and soaked until the dye bath is ready.







This piece has a delicate shimmer obtained with jackfruit wood, another wood called prahot and coconut husk. The colours are made stronger by the addition of sai bua in which the silk yarns are soaked for a few days. It uses a mudmee design in the umber and pale green stripes, twisted threads and a white weft (cross-wise threads), which gives the shimmer.




Because we follow a fair trade model, we wanted to learn not just about these production details but also about the group which has mastered them: the group with whom we are working to establish a relationship. Here's some of what we've learned:

• The group was started 22 years ago.
• Ten years ago, it had 75 members and has since grown to 108, all local Pa Ao village residents.
• Group members use chemical dyes and natural dyes, particularly local materials like kram (indigo), lac (which produces lovely pinks and reds) and magrua (ebony black). They have since learned to dye with other natural materials, such as coconut and jackfruit wood.
• All dye materials are gathered locally.

At the group's shop and weaving centre, we were shown samples of dye materials and silk yarns that had been dyed with them. Here you see Alleson and Nan, a group member, looking at samples of natural dye baths prepared by local students.

Our visit was not quite what we had expected but this is always part of the fun. Thanks to Alleson's ability to speak Thai, we learned more about the group and how they make such delicate colours using natural dyes from their local environment. Thanks also to her ability to read Thai (albeit slowly), we also learned the Thai names of several dye materials new to us.

Each new word helps us communicate better with the Thai weavers from whom we buy textiles. (My Thai is still rudimentary but my ability to understand and speak grows slowly, but daily, as we travel.) Being able to communicate, even a little, with the weavers enriches our understanding of their traditions and practices. It also allows us to bring you more stories about the creation of these incredible fibre arts.

Nok Noi (aka Ellen)