Trama Textiles

TRAMA Textiles is a worker-owned women's weaving association offering training to weaving cooperatives around Guatemala and enabling them to produce quality fair-trade textile goods. The administrators participate in annual meetings where executive decisions are made and new administrators are elected. Women who participate in these meetings are representatives chosen from each of the 17 groups which make up our association. Because our groups come from a wide variety of places, there is a range of indigenous languages spoken: various dialects of K'iche', Mam, Kakchiquel, Ixil and Tz'utujil. The representatives are chosen primarily based on their literacy skills in Spanish so that all groups of the association can communicate with each other. We offer training to each of our groups, combining new and interesting ways to make their crafts more marketable, while keeping their traditional methods, designs and patterns alive. The association buys the products from each group at the wage the group determines. The product are then sold in our retail shop in Quetzaltenango and online through ETSY. We also sell products in two other shops in Antigua: Colibri and Ojo Cosmetico, in addition to exporting goods to Europe and the United States. TRAMA products are made with highest quality materials and processes. Because we use top-quality cotton thread, the colours will not bleed or run together. We pre-wash our yarn, so your weaving will not shrink when you wash it. While other weavers use one strand of yarn, we weave with two strands of yarn wound together. This makes the products more durable, higher-quality and longer-lasting. TRAMA Textiles also relies on its weaving school, La Escuela de Tejido, to help pay for the administrative and promotional costs of the association.