8 (Re)crafting distribution networks for contemporary Philippine textiles
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B. Lynne Milgram
Abstract
Throughout the Philippines, as in many global south countries, artisans and social entrepreneurs are working together to organize collective associations through which to gain the equipment, skills, and marketing assistance that can enhance their enterprises. Such collaborative initiatives are evident in the number of viable weaving organizations that practitioners, primarily women, have organized at the household level and in small workshop settings. Drawing on case studies in Ifugao province and in Manila, this chapter focuses on two small-scale, social welfare-mandated enterprises that have operationalized alternative channels for textile production and marketing, namely ‘Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement’ (SITMo) in Ifugao, and ’Rags2Riches’ (R2R) in Manila. Adhering to a model of business transparency, both social enterprises promote income generation for makers, but also social welfare projects that invest in community well-being (e.g. health insurance, education), foster long-term producer–buyer relations, and ensure that artisans’ designs can compete in global markets while simultaneously maintaining local knowledge and technology. The chapter thus explores the channels through which artisans and social entrepreneurs can realize the potential of artisans’ production given shifts in raw material and digital technology availability, labor conditions, market demand, and how contemporary textiles can continue to represent local cultural identity. The chapter also questions the extent to which these social enterprises can expand and still maintain their social welfare mandate given minimal government support. I suggest moreover that Philippine women artisans’ and social entrepreneurs’ advocacy and initiatives enable them to achieve more livelihood autonomy in today’s locally grounded yet globally connected world.
Abstract
Throughout the Philippines, as in many global south countries, artisans and social entrepreneurs are working together to organize collective associations through which to gain the equipment, skills, and marketing assistance that can enhance their enterprises. Such collaborative initiatives are evident in the number of viable weaving organizations that practitioners, primarily women, have organized at the household level and in small workshop settings. Drawing on case studies in Ifugao province and in Manila, this chapter focuses on two small-scale, social welfare-mandated enterprises that have operationalized alternative channels for textile production and marketing, namely ‘Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement’ (SITMo) in Ifugao, and ’Rags2Riches’ (R2R) in Manila. Adhering to a model of business transparency, both social enterprises promote income generation for makers, but also social welfare projects that invest in community well-being (e.g. health insurance, education), foster long-term producer–buyer relations, and ensure that artisans’ designs can compete in global markets while simultaneously maintaining local knowledge and technology. The chapter thus explores the channels through which artisans and social entrepreneurs can realize the potential of artisans’ production given shifts in raw material and digital technology availability, labor conditions, market demand, and how contemporary textiles can continue to represent local cultural identity. The chapter also questions the extent to which these social enterprises can expand and still maintain their social welfare mandate given minimal government support. I suggest moreover that Philippine women artisans’ and social entrepreneurs’ advocacy and initiatives enable them to achieve more livelihood autonomy in today’s locally grounded yet globally connected world.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- List of contributors xv
- Introduction 1
- I Fashioning identity 23
- 1 Wearing a gendered tree 25
- 2 Women for cotton and men for wool 47
- 3 Gendered blue 72
- 4 Bhutanese women and the performance of globalization 92
- 5 Weaving and dyeing the ideal of reproduction among Shidong Miao in Guizhou province 113
- II Gendering creative agency 133
- 6 Soft power 135
- 7 Investigating female entrepreneurship in silk weaving in contemporary Cambodia 158
- 8 (Re)crafting distribution networks for contemporary Philippine textiles 180
- 9 Women weaving silken identities and revitalizing various Japanese textile traditions 207
- III Creative voices for change 229
- 10 Entangled histories of craft and conflict 231
- 11 The politics of wastefulness and ‘the poetics of waste’ 258
- 12 Made in Rana Plaza 284
- Index 312
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- List of contributors xv
- Introduction 1
- I Fashioning identity 23
- 1 Wearing a gendered tree 25
- 2 Women for cotton and men for wool 47
- 3 Gendered blue 72
- 4 Bhutanese women and the performance of globalization 92
- 5 Weaving and dyeing the ideal of reproduction among Shidong Miao in Guizhou province 113
- II Gendering creative agency 133
- 6 Soft power 135
- 7 Investigating female entrepreneurship in silk weaving in contemporary Cambodia 158
- 8 (Re)crafting distribution networks for contemporary Philippine textiles 180
- 9 Women weaving silken identities and revitalizing various Japanese textile traditions 207
- III Creative voices for change 229
- 10 Entangled histories of craft and conflict 231
- 11 The politics of wastefulness and ‘the poetics of waste’ 258
- 12 Made in Rana Plaza 284
- Index 312
