Fashion Farmer

To overcome the critical shortage of the indigenous Philippine abaca plant for both global export and use by local textile artisans. We are creating a farmers’ cooperative, integrating local farmers and traditional artisans into the current efforts of the Abaca Tuxy Buying Project in the Philippines’ Marinduque province. Local farmers within the cooperative will receive additional farmland and abaca, ensuring the ongoing availability of adequate raw abaca fibers for the revitalization of traditional artisanal textile production without diminishing the Philippine fiber industry’s existing export capacity. The introduction of regenerative abaca farming will also have enormous environmental benefits, including erosion control and biodiversity rehabilitation. Importantly, when fully realized, the cooperative will feature a state-of-the-art micro-scale fiber-processing and production facility and a range of innovative technologies, in which local citizens contribute cooperatively to the transformation of raw materials into textiles to marketable artisanal and other products in a single textile ecosystem.

During the past 30 years, the continued viability of the traditional artisanal and textile business in the Philippines has been seriously undermined by critical limitations on the availability and accessibility of locally farmed abaca and other natural raw materials essential to the creation and market appeal of traditional artisanal products. The increased practice and reliance on exporting locally grown fibers have contributed to the steady marginalization of local fiber processors, skilled weavers, and other traditional artisans from the competitive textile market. Recent analyses reveal that 97% of Philippine abaca is currently exported for use in the automotive, furniture, fashion, and other fiber-dependent industries globally. The ability to meet global and local demands for raw fibers has been further undermined by the reliance of Philippine farmers, fiber processors, and artisans on an outdated time-consuming, labor-intensive supply model that limits their ability to fulfill client requests in a timely and efficient manner. Left unaddressed, these combined factors threaten both the survival of the traditional artisanal and textile trade in the Philippines and the sustainability of the nation’s abaca resources.

Our solution is the creation of Fashion Farmer, a farming cooperative on the island province of Marinduque through which local farmers will be provided with additional land and abaca seeding. Replacing the traditional Philippine textile industry’s multi-stage, labor-intensive supply-to-market model, farmers, processors, and textile artisans within the cooperative will work together in a streamlined soil-to-textile circular ecosystem in a fully equipped micro-scale processing facility. Local farmers, fiber processors, and textile artisans will be trained to augment their traditional processing techniques (tuxying, hand stripping, drying, degumming) with newly developed techniques for fiber and yarn production. The abaca seeds will be supplied by the Abaca Tuxy Buying Project and will provide adequate raw fibers for the revitalization of traditional artisanal textile production without diminishing the Philippine fiber industry’s existing export capacity. The full realization of our solution will include the creation of a fully mechanized, micro-scale processing and production facility, and will also have enormous environmental benefits (including erosion control and biodiversity rehabilitation).

The most immediate beneficiaries of our solution are local farmers in the Philippines’ Marinduque province, who will be provided with:

1) the seeding and farming property required to maintain a sustainable abaca crop;

2) streamlined supply models to provide greater control over their own business practices and land management; and 

3) the training, support, and processing facilities necessary to fulfill the abaca requests of both local artisanal textile producers and international export clients. 

With their farmlands traditionally devoted to coconut crops, local farmers in Marinduque are among the poorest farmers in the Philippines. The integration of the highly valued abaca plant into their crop rotation will provide local farmers with increased revenues and incentives, while the use of the abaca crop will reduce erosion and contribute to the enrichment of the soil. The solution will benefit local textile artisans within the province who will gain access to the essential fibers required to preserve the integrity and ensure the marketability of traditional textile products. Fashion Farmer will work aggressively to recruit and train local women and youth for employment in abaca processing and textile production.

Our solution will contribute to the creation of a sustainable and resilient natural and social ecosystem in the following ways: (1) providing local farmers with a highly valued crop in which it will contribute to soil regeneration and help prevent erosion; (2) integrating farmers, fiber processors, and traditional artisans into a circular and regenerative social ecosystem; (c) enabling traditional artisans to produce and market artisanal products derived from eco-friendly fibers that are environmentally safe for nature and the communities in which they are purchased and used; (d) providing employment opportunities for local women and youth.

The shortage of abaca and other fibers represents an existential threat to the survival and continuity of the traditional artisan and textile businesses in the Philippines. Failure to address this need in a timely manner will inevitably result in the termination of traditional artisanal textile practices, with devastating implications for the weavers, other traditional artisans, and the economies and cultural heritage of local communities across the nation. The provision of abaca seeds, farmland, training, support, and fully modernized processing facilities to local farmers and processors in Marinduque represents an important step in revitalizing the traditional artisanal textile business both locally and nationwide. It also provides local farmers, processors, and artisans the means and incentives to work cooperatively in the maintenance of a sustainable cash crop that will ensure the viability of their respective trades, the preservation of vital cultural practices and traditions, and the enrichment and sustainability of local farmlands.

Our solution is innovative on three distinct levels: 

(a) the replacement of the Philippines’ traditional multi-stage, a labor-intensive farm-to-market textile system with a streamlined, entrepreneurial model that integrates all stages of fiber processing/preparation and artisanal production into a circular and regenerative textile ecosystem; 

(b) the introduction of innovative, state-of-the-art processing and production technologies to enhance timeliness and productivity of abaca fibers for both global and local use; and 

(c) the integration of new technologies and traditional artisanal skills and practices to ensure the continuity and viability of the traditional textile artisanal trade in a competitive marketplace.

The solution’s direct beneficiaries are the farmers, harvesters, and processors who work in the island province of Marinduque, along with the local artisans who will purchase and use their fiber products in their work. In its earliest stages, our farm cooperative currently serves 56 farmers and artisans. Our goal is to expand the farm cooperative to include 60-100 farmers/harvesters/processors and 50 traditional artisans within one year, with a long-term (five-year) goal of involving up to 350-400-plus local citizens as either farmers/processors (200) or traditional artisans (150-200).

Our progress will be measured using several assessment methods. These methods include: 

1) Standard descriptive quantitative measures to incrementally monitor the number of trees planted and harvested, hectares cultivated, orders received and fulfilled, the timeliness of product delivery, the number of local citizens recruited (with specific hiring goals for the target population of women and youth), and the number of seminars and training events held; 

2) qualitative assessments of the perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of cooperative members, new employees, client representatives, and local artisans. Qualitative measures will provide an assessment of progress and also provide feedback informing program improvements. We will also solicit and rely on the ongoing observation, guidance, and recommendations of representatives of the Abaca Tuxy Buying Project and the Philippine Textile Research Institute, the contributions of which will be instrumental in ensuring the successful realization of our solution and the promotion of our solution as a prototype for abaca farming in other regions and for the farming of other indigenous textile crops, both in the Philippines and internationally.

The team consists of a total of 16 people: 8 full-time staff, 2 part-time staff, 4 contractors, and 2 others.

Our solution team is uniquely well-positioned to deliver our solution for the processing and production textile workers of the Marinduque province. Our team members are embedded within the local community and have productive relationships both with local farmers, artisans, and other citizens and with representatives of all of the key partners devoted to preserving and revitalizing the abaca farming, processing, and traditional artisanal textile trade, both in the Marinduque province and throughout the Philippines. These partners include the Abaca Tuxy Buying Project, the Philippines Fiber Trade Development Authority, the Department of Science and Technology, and the Philippine Textile Research Institute, and its Inclusive Innovative TELA Program. Through a recent academic research project of one of our members, we have also been able to expand the scale of our interactions with and knowledge of local farmers, processors, and textile artisans throughout the province, observing their work firsthand and learning directly about the challenges involved in their work and their aspirations for the future.

The recruitment, employment, and training goals for our solution feature an aggressive emphasis on the inclusion and participation of women as laborers, skilled processors, and artisans, and leaders at all stages of the harvesting, fiber preparation, and production process are currently women. Our goal is to steadily increase the number of women in the cooperative from the current level of thirty-six percent to a minimum of fifty percent by end of year two with a specific focus on recruiting, incentivizing, and training women to assume leadership positions within the cooperative.

My decision to apply is based on my commitment to rethinking the role of our material culture both in the fashion industry and our society overall. I strongly believe that materials can serve as a vital link to a better world. By increasing and sustaining the supply of abaca and other indigenous vegetable fibers in the Philippines, we can simultaneously revitalize the traditional artisanal textile community, regenerate and restore depleted earth systems, strengthen local economies and provide needed employment for women and other local citizens, and incorporate more innovative and sustainable practices throughout the textile industry. Over time, the lack of access and availability of natural raw materials and the forced reliance of artisanal weavers on synthetic fibers and other alternative raw materials has contributed to the steady decline of the traditional artisanal textile trade in the Philippines. By adopting land that was previously used for the cultivation of other crops to abaca use, we can contribute to the growth of local farm and processing practices, ensure the continuity of the artisanal textile business, economically empower women and youth in traditionally impoverished communities, and help restore eroded and depleted farmland. The introduction of a circular ecosystem within a local community – from the harvesting and processing of the natural fibers, the spinning of the fibers into yarn, and the weaving of the fibers and yarn into artisanal textile products – will enable weaving traditions to thrive and pave the way to the creation of new product innovation of artisanal textiles.

This is our first experience of creating and maintaining a farm cooperative, and we will need ongoing guidance and support in addressing the challenges involved in developing and implementing a business and operational model that is productive, sustainable, and responsive to the inevitable problems and challenges involved in facilitating and managing the cooperative endeavors of local farmers, processors, and artisans attempting to meet high volumes of supply and production demands from both global and local clients and customers. As the cooperative matures and expands, we will need effective public relations and communications to raise awareness and share information about the benefits of our prototype for use by other developing innovative cooperative farm-to-product ecosystems both in the Philippines and globally.

We will continue to solicit the guidance and support of the Philippine Textile Research Institute and other governmental partners for the project. As we move forward and confront the day-to-day challenges involved in creating and maintaining a supply-to-product farm cooperative, we also plan to collaborate and solicit the assistance of several other partners with experience and expertise in various aspects of cooperative farming, processing, and textile production, including international fiber companies such as BastCore, BastFiber Tech, Spinnova; international farms in Brazil such as FarFarm and ReNature; international textile mills such as Hermin Textile, as well as additional guidance from other local textile companies, artisanal textile businesses, and non-governmental organizations in the Philippines. We would also welcome any assistance that could be provided through the MIT faculty and/or the Initiatives and Solve members.

A central emphasis of our solution is the employment, training, and economic empowerment of local women and girls in the low-income communities of the Marinduque province. The Cooperative will include an aggressive emphasis on the recruitment of women, providing ongoing workshops and training in weaving, dyeing, and other essential aspects of the fiber-preparation and artisanal process. Girls in the communities involved in the Cooperative will also be provided with educational programs on the farming, preparation, and production process and the opportunities that await them there. The Cooperative’s Gender and Development Committee will also include a sustained emphasis on the recruitment of women Cooperative members and the inclusion of women in leadership positions within the Cooperative.

Our solution will contribute to the strengthening local economies in a traditionally poor Philippine province, expanding and improving the business practices of local farmers/harvesters/processors; increasing employment opportunities for women, youth, and other citizens; and revitalizing the traditional artisanal trade through the increased availability of the raw fibers that are essential to their craft. Our solution will enrich local ecosystems in the following ways:

·      the implementation of a circular field-to-market operational ecosystem, in which processors and artisanal producers work side-by-side in a highly efficient micro-scale facility; and,

·      a regenerative agricultural model that will ensure sustainable supplies of the province’s natural fiber resources, decrease farmland erosion and increase plant biodiversity.

Our solution will strengthen local economies and help reduce poverty in the region by enhancing the ability of local farmers to meet growing global and local demands for abaca fibers; preserving and revitalizing the local artisanal trade through the adequate provision of the indigenous natural fibers that are essential for their work; and providing substantial opportunities for employment for women, youth, and other citizens in a traditionally impoverished island province. In addition to its economic impact on the lives of local citizens, our solution will also enrich local ecosystems in the following ways:

·      the implementation of a circular field-to-market operational ecosystem, in which processors and artisanal producers work side-by-side in a highly efficient micro-scale facility; and,

·      a regenerative agricultural model that will ensure sustainable supplies of the province’s natural fiber resources, decrease farmland erosion and increase plant biodiversity.