Guadalupe Clutch

Size: 8" h (13" unfolded) x 12" w x 0.5" g

Material: 100% cotton, 100% cow leather. Lined in white cotton muslin with an exterior lined pocket and two interior open pockets. Now with a wristlet.

Handmade in Mexico

Bold, luxurious and eye-catching - this striking clutch offers a deep exterior pocket for quick access to your essentials, and a deep zippered central compartment with plenty of room for a wallet, cosmetic case and even a mini iPad, and two open pockets for phones or keys. Accented with the heart milagro charm decorating all of our Mexican bags. 

The textile was handwoven on a backstrap loom in Chiapas, in a diamond brocade known in the weavers' language, tzotzil, as pakaluch (complete brocade). The diamonds represent the Mayan worldview, and this weave is the first that women learn to do in this area of Chiapas; the most intricate; and is traditionally used for huipiles and other clothing. 

Impact

The fabric for this bag was woven by Guadalupe and Alicia in Larrainzar, Chiapas. The bag was assembled in an ethical factory outside of Mexico City. Each bag provided 2 days of fair work to women. The sale of each bag will provide a week of life skills mentoring for adolescent indigenous girls through our 2014 NGO partner, Redmi. Learn more.

The women behind the bag:

Guadalupe (elder) and Alicia (younger) are from Bayalemo, a village in the municipality of Larrainzar, in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Alicia started weaving when she was 8 years old and Guadalupe when she was 20. Both learned from their mothers and grandmothers. They belong to a group of 21 women weavers, who call themselves the weavers of Bayalemo. They weave because they love this art, and it keeps them alive, although sometimes they do not have a good place to sell their products. At the start of this project, Guadalupe showed Alicia a sampler that is 30 years old and handed down from her grandmother, as a guide for the design.