STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

the other day i got an e-mail from anthro about their new site.  it's great.  it's so much better than the old one and it's nice to see all the prices and colors at one time.  another positive thing that i've seen from anthro. is that they've added some nice quality brands that are a bit more affordable.  so here i am liking anthro. again until.....

i get their new june e-mail.

recently when i was in santa fe, i saw some cute fabric wall hangings, and i was going to get one for my mom (i held off, and when i went back, they were sold out of the ones that i liked).  well, anthro. just added them to their website for about a 700% mark up. 


if you do a search for these, they are much less expensive, and you will see that a lot of times they are sold by fair trade retailers.  i'm not an expert, but from what i know, they are usually made by peruvian women (that's what the person in santa fe told me).  i'm just so annoyed because i have a feeling that these women do not see anywhere close to the $300 that anthro. charges for this art.  it's sad to see the money basically taken from the poor and put into corporate america's pockets.  -end rant.

here's a blurb on the art:

Arpilleras or cuadros, exquisitely detailed hand-sewn three dimensional textile pictures, illustrate the stories of the lives of the women of the shantytowns (pueblo jovenes) of Lima, Peru and provide essential income for their families.

"Arpilleras originated in Chile, where women political prisoners who were held during the Pinochet regime used them to camouflage notes sent to helpers outside. Even the most suspicious guards did not think to check the appliquéd pictures for messages, since sewing was seen as inconsequential 'women's work'.

Today, arpilleras are created in a number of cooperatives located in the dusty shantytowns of poor and displaced families that ring the capital city of Lima." Pueblos are collections of the poorest people with unemployment near 80% and few sources of income. "Often the homes are shacks composed of salvaged parts: old doors, panels of straw matting, crating and corrugated metal. Water must be trucked in to the shantytowns because there are no water or sewage systems. Often, the small income from the sale of arpilleras provides the only source of income for families displaced from their traditional lives in the mountains. For others, this income allows the family to educate their children, to provide a little better living standard. For all, it engenders a sense of community among women who are often from very different customs and cultures; it is also a way to express their creativity.

The arpilleras tell the stories of life: stories of planting and harvesting potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages, grapes, corn; stories of spinning and weaving wool; stories of country life, of tending llamas, sheep and goats; stories of weddings and fiestas.

According to arpillera maker Rita Serapion, "We all have a little art in our minds and in our hands; we will leave something as a legacy for society. It will stay behind us, in another place, in another time."

From "In Her Hands" by Paola Gianturco and Toby Tuttle, Penguin Press 2000.