Our community is called Ciudad Vieja, we are part of the Sacatepequez Department. We are very close to Antigua Guatemala that is a Cultural Patrimony of the World. Our community is a mix of latino and mayan population, our economy is based on different products and mayan textile is a very important part of it.
The Fashion Design Project was originally designed by agroup of students based in a class we received at school about entrepreneurship. We wanted to be part of the entrepreneurship opportunities available around the world and we decided that we wanted to do it by entering the fashion market. Our town is very known for the Guatemalan textile production and our families have worked in this area from many generations. Being part of this we wanted to break the tradition by adding our personal design and adapt our typical textile to modern and wearable pieces around the world. This is the reason we presented this idea to the Niños de Guatemala NGO that helped us to create this project and find the funding for it.
In this project we will learn how to create a basic piece, a blouse for example, and incorporate our personal design of handmade textile that we already have. This design will allow us to develop a unique piece to be sold outside or inside Guatemala. We are expecting this experience to work as an initial practice for a future business. We will be developing tools that can useful for our future and will guarantee that the conditions of our families change in the future. We already have a well-known fashion designer that will help us create and sell the products.
Additional support needed
Cooperative development: Training in cooperative formation, marketing, financial literacy such as book keeping, project management, leadership skills and coop governance.