FABRIC: RECYCLED T-SHIRTS

Paca is the term for imported secondhand clothing. Paca shops are found in most Guatemalan towns. Here in Panajachel, there are dozens of pacas lining the streets. Paca means “bale” in Spanish, and the clothing is named for the way it is shipped from overseas— in bales.

However, “We throw away at least half of the clothing. Some garments are stained, torn, full of holes, out of style, or the sizes are too big for our customer,” a local paca owner told a Multicolores team member.

With bales arriving weekly to entice clients with new offerings, pacas throw away a lot of clothing. But the waste starts long before the paca shop.

Overconsumption in the U.S. and Europe spills over borders and becomes the problem of countries like Guatemala, where unsold donated clothing arrives in bales of paca. The clothing that pacas can’t sell gets burned or sent to the landfill.

Paca store in Panajachel, Guatemala. Photo credit: Joe Coca

It wasn’t always this way! During the first rug-hooking workshops in 2009, we [Multicolores] tried a mix of materiales: imported wool strips, yarn, and paca. We landed on paca. Why? It’s affordable and it’s everywhere!

This decision—made for practical reasons— also shaped Multicolores’ identity and values as an organization. Environmentally sustainable decision-making became part of our DNA.

6,626!

That’s how many garments Multicolores’ rug hooking artists recycled in 2020. We tracked this data for the first time last year and we’re proud to celebrate this small positive impact, diverting material from the textile waste flood to create new works of art.

We encourage you to take a moment and consider the life cycle of your clothing. Can you repair that torn blouse, patch your jeans, or have your shoes re-soled? Wash your clothes only when needed so that they last longer? Purchase fewer clothing items each year? Together we can all do our part to care for our clothing and the earth.

Photo credit: Reyna Pretzantzin

This hooked rug is handmade from start to finish, with a unique one-of-a-kind design. This rug is hooked on a base of cotton monkscloth fabric, woven on a standing foot loom at a weaving collective in Totonicapán. After cutting the monkscloth to size, the artist sketches her design with markers directly on the fabric, sometimes using her library of templates. The artist selects a range of recycled garments with different colors and patterns (mostly t-shirts and other jersey material), then washes each garment. Using hand scissors, the garments are cut into strips approximately 3/8" x 20" long. Once cut into strips, the clothing is ready to hook! The artist uses a frame to hold the monkscloth taut. Using a hook (similar to a crochet hook, with a carved ergonomic wooden handle), the strips are pulled through the ground cloth loop by loop, slowly filling in the design. Most artists outline figures, fill them in, and then complete the background of their piece.

Once the piece is hooked, the edge of the rug is finished with a sewn binding of woven fabric from worn-out cortes (a corte is a traditional woven wrap skirt worn by Maya women, often featuring ikat designs).

Depending on the size of the rug, each piece contains fabric from 20 to 125 different secondhand garments.

Rosario Gutierrez Pacheco working on a rug. Photo credit: Joe Coca

Nicolasa Pacay Barán is from Santiago Atitlán, a Tz’utujil Maya town on Lake Atitlán. She is one of the leaders of the Patanatic rug hooking group.

In her own words - ”Unfortunately, we live in a society in which many people think Mayan women are only capable of one thing: having babies. It’s very difficult for Mayan women to find good work—even for those of us, like me, who were able to go to school. Working as artists with Multicolores has helped us, and our community, understand that we are capable of much more.…I love that with Multicolores, I am able to work at home and be present in the life of my family. I enjoy contributing to my children’s education. This year, I have been balancing my work with Multicolores with my role on the COCODE (Patanatic’s local governance committee), and finding time to work on our small plot of land.

I was asked to join the COCODE after my stance on environmental pollution. A local Councillor had given approval for a garbage dump close to Patanatic. At a Town Hall meeting the Councillor said we had no right to make demands when concerns were raised about the dump affecting the water supply and attracting mosquitoes. I stood up and explained to the Councillor that I had received training in Human Rights as part of the Multicolores' Leadership Program and that the people of the village had the right to live in a healthy environment, and to have their rights respected. The community supported my position and the Councillor was required to find another location for the garbage dump…Now it’s amazing to see what we have accomplished: learning to express incredible things that we didn’t know we had inside us."

Artist Hilda García Tzunún with paca strips and hook. Photo credit: Madeline Kreider Carlson