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Sapara Clothing: A Tradition in Danger

Threatened Traditional Clothing of the Amazon

Location

Ecuador

Released

February 2019

Duration

10:09

Tags
  • Culture
  • Ecuador
  • Ethical Consumption
  • Indigenous Made Film
  • Indigenous Solutions
  • youth

For centuries, the Sapara people of the Ecuadorian Amazon made their clothes from the resistant and natural fabric that the forest grows for them. As people have become more used to commercial clothing, this tradition has been increasingly neglected.

By stripping the bark from the tree and beating it to soften the fibres, they tame the hard cortex of the llanchama tree and transform it into a textile material. It seems simple but requires a team of people and several days of work to develop this product that is currently undervalued in the market.

Arturo Santi from the Jandiayaku community, inheritor of this millenary knowledge, passes it on to young people so that they can preserve this ancient technique that may offer a sustainable alternative for the future and exemplifies their community’s historic and deep connection to their forest home. 

Producers

  • Profile
    TAWNA Ecuador

    We are TAWNA, a group that is born in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon and our dream is to transform and carry with our oar the messa...

  • Profile
    Samantha Castro Ecuador

    Woman, hiker, independent journalist, self-taught filmmaker, activist in defence of the life of Pachamama. “I believe in communic...

  • Profile
    Lenin Montahuano (Yanda Twaru) Ecuador

    Yanda Inayu (kichwa name), known as Twaru in his native Sapara language and Lenin Montahuano Ushigua in Spanish, was born in the commun...

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