New Chiapas lab repairs and protects Indigenous clothing, helping to preserve a valued tradition
The laboratory, founded by the Maya World Textile Center, comes at a time of increasing awareness of Indigenous artisans' right to protect their work from exploitation and expropriation. The post New Chiapas lab repairs and protects Indigenous clothing, helping to preserve a valued tradition appeared first on Mexico News Daily
A museum in southern Mexico has opened a conservation laboratory to preserve its extensive collection of textiles, valued for their cultural significance. The Maya World Textile Center, located in a former convent in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, houses traditional clothing and textiles from Chiapas and Guatemala. The center now features a lab equipped for repairing, cleaning, and protecting the 3,400-piece collection, which includes everyday and ceremonial garments from the last century.
Specialists have access to tools for washing textiles, removing stains, reinforcing damaged areas, and identifying materials and techniques.
The collections, which also include Pre-Hispanic, colonial, and 19th-century artifacts, will remain available for research and exhibition at the center, which holds the title of the largest textile collection of the Maya world since its opening in 2012. The center has attracted over 342,000 visitors since its inception, according to Diario de Chiapas.
Fomento Cultural Banamex, the Mexican bank's nonprofit supporting arts, traditional crafts, exhibitions, and heritage conservation, assisted in equipping the center. Financial support for staff and additional equipment came from Fundación Diez Morodo, established by Valentín Diez Morodo, a former Grupo Modelo executive.
As Indigenous communities continue efforts to preserve their traditional crafts and protect designs from unauthorized copying, the opening of the conservation lab is timely. Artisans from San Andrés Larrainzar, a Tsotsil Maya municipality in Chiapas, have documented 208 textile symbols through the Jolom Mayaetik cooperative, which includes names and meanings passed down through generations. However, copyright protection covers the research, not necessarily the designs.
In neighboring Oaxaca, officials are working on registering and protecting traditional huarache designs after the controversy surrounding Adidas' Oaxaca Slip-On shoe in 2025. Adidas and designer Willy Chavarria apologized for creating the sandal-inspired shoe without the community's involvement. Preservation efforts also face economic challenges, with female textile artisans in Mexico earning an average of 3,699 pesos (about US $200) monthly, compared to 7,399 pesos (about US $400) for men, according to Animal Político in August.
Only 2.4% of female textile artisans have social security coverage, compared to 12.4% of their male counterparts.
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