Fair Trade Fashion and Design

Auracanían Mapuche family

Mapuche are the largest indigenous group in South America, with populations mainly spanning Southern Chile and Argentina.  In rural Araucanían communities in Chile only 3% of Mapuche adults have more than a high school education, women making up a small portion of this group. While Chile has undergone drastic development throughout the past few decades, the Mapuche people remain a marginalized sector of Chilean society. Mapuche women are rarely presented with economic opportunities or education to develop professionally or creatively within their rural communities.

Since the Chol Chol Foundation was established in 1974, it has worked to empower Mapuche women, who tend to invest their money on the enrichment of their family’s quality of life and community well-being.

Mapuche family weaving at home

The majority of the women involved have found empowerment in their roles as successful artisans and financial contributors to their families. The family dynamics in an often patriarchal culture have become largely more positive.  The weaving work imbues them with new found power and self-confidence in their communities. Meanwhile, the practice of weaving protects the cultural transmission of Mapuche craft techniques, design traditions, and the symbolic language embedded in the textiles.

If Mapuche women are proved a means to a stable income in their rural villages, they can work from home, and raise their children in their community. Their children will grow up Mapuche with access to education, comfort and their cultural identity.

Mapuche mother weaving with son