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Our Products and Our Producers
Pachacuti shows that in a world of mass-produced clothing, people can wear individual, stylish garments which have been created by hand using traditional skills, with respect for the environment and ensuring that the producers receive a living wage.
Pachacuti designs seasonal ranges of alpaca knitwear, hand-embroidered clothing, felt hats and, of course, our extensive collection of Panama hats.
Our entire range is designed using traditional skills from the Andean region of South America, providing essential income for over 1000 artisans within 12 producer groups in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. Traditional skills such as embroidery and millinery are under threat due to the rapid westernisation of indigenous dress and consequently many artisans have lost their local market. Pachacuti's designs utilise these techniques and are playing a significant part in preserving the rich textile heritage of the Andes.
Moreover, we ensure that raw materials are as locally sourced as possible by raw material mapping every element of a garment or accessory, right down to the embroidery thread and buttons.
Our Fair Trade Panama Hats
Pachacuti is the UK’s only Fair Trade hat specialist, working directly with women's co-operatives in Ecuador. The panama hat supply chain has traditionally been controlled by middlemen, known as ‘perros’ (dogs in Spanish) due to their unscrupulous purchasing methods and weavers typically receiving a very low price for their skills. With a Pachacuti panama, the women carry out the entire production process from weaving to finishing and thus retain far more of the final value of the hat.
Moreover, the support which Pachacuti provides to their weaving association supports a number of social and community development projects: the administration of educational grants for 172 schoolchildren; provision of a Centro de Protección de Derechos for 8 hours per week, providing a lawyer, social worker and psychologist; providing a pension scheme and medical expenses; supporting Alcoholics Anonymous; financing capital expenditure. In 2010 Pachacuti began a collaboration with local primary schools in Ashbourne, Derbyshire in order to raise money to buy glasses for the weavers: through our first Sunglasses for Glasses day, 45 pairs of glasses were purchased and in 2011 many more weavers will benefit from improved vision and thus be able to earn more money by weaving finer hats.
Sustainable Environmental Practices
The classic panama hat epitomises the idea of slow fashion, a backlash against the disposable fashion of recent years. Our Panamas are made from native toquilla palm, sustainably harvested on a community-owned plantation on the coast of Ecuador, where the growers use no chemicals and encourage biodiversity of plants and animals.
As part of our pilot work for the EU Geo Fair Trade project, environmental and geolocalization data is being collected for 2010 and 2011 from the panama hat plantations where our straw grows. Additionally, remote sensing imagery sources such as ESA Globcover, Shuttle radar topographic mission, climatic data satellites and GPS tracking will monitor the environment to assess changes such as climate, deforestation or construction.
When a Panama finally reaches the end of its life after many years of wear, it can be put on the compost heap.
Keeping the Tradition Alive through Sustainable Livelihoods
Environmental sustainability alone will not ensure the future of the Panama hat. Hat weaving is dying out in Ecuador due to low pay and high migration levels. Pachacuti's Fair Trade purchasing gives women a sustainable livelihood, enabling them to remain within their rural communities, fitting hat weaving around the agricultural cycle and their families.
This is particularly important in a community where high migration rates (there are now 7 women to 1 man in the region) have led to the devastation of families, alcoholism, a youth suicide rate twice the world average, increasing teenage pregnancies and declining school performance. Contrary to the trends, our Panama hat association grew in membership by 15% in 2011 as weavers not only earn more but benefit from a comprehensive social support structure to ensure their health and wellbeing.
By ensuring just remuneration for current weavers, ensuring sustainability and training a new generation in weaving techniques, Pachacuti will ensure that the Panama hat continues to be a fashion icon into the next century.