The new Silk Road

The New York and LA Times credited American entrepreneur Carol Cassidy with reviving the Lao silk industry. The accolade really belongs to Kommaly Chantavong who had resuscitated silk in the northern plains of Xieng Khuoang. She trained those who later worked for Cassidy, whose hand-woven pieces sell for thousands of dollars in the ateliers of New York, belying the claim that there is no money in handcrafts.

Long time observations by the American sociologist Carol Doolittle and her colleagues found that women in the weaving industry earn 20-40 per cent more than their sisters labouring in factories. Lao’s national minimum wage has not shifted much beyond US$43 per month, despite inflation. Women weavers are paid by the piece or by the meter, and enjoy flexible working arrangements impossible in the industrial sector. “Independent weavers can sell a skirt for US$30-80; significantly more than they earn making t-shirts.” Doolittle said

“When women began to develop commercial silk factories in the 1990s it was hard as for them to be employees, as Lao consider themselves equal. A villager would consider herself equal to employers, even if they were master weavers, so quality control was difficult. Who knows how they cope in a factory with foreign employers who don’t understand cultural notion of equality.”

Interesting thought.

Weaving is intensely social. Women can elect to work in a “factory” with other weavers or stay at home. Young women usually prefer the city silk weaving houses. They recruit sisters or other female relatives from the village. On the other hand married women with children like to be able to earn at home while keeping an eye on the kids and chatting with friends while they work. Weaving is not burdened by loud noise, safety hazards or the need to wear special clothing. You can get up and leave the loom without fearing supervisors or losing pay.

But, I argued with Doolittle, the market is still small. She begged to differ. “I know Laos in the US who order pha sinhs from their families back home for weddings and other formal occasions. It is part of being Lao, no matter where you are in the world. They may wear a white dress for the ceremony but everyone will wear a sinh and pha bia (sash) to the reception. Thousands are sold each year to relatives abroad.”

And that is for woven silk. I spotted a silk filled duvet in Bangkok selling for 12,000 Baht (US$400). A skein of knitting grade silk sells for US$37. Endless possibilities.

But mindsets are hard to shift. Handcrafts or the sharper named “creative industries” barely feature in donors objectives. Lao Government representatives are happy to be photographed visiting handcraft shows and extolling Lao culture, but their interest is said to be linked to self-interest.

Industrialisation has become synonymous with modernity in policy terms. Never mind the attendant risk of factory hazards or, at times like this, the lack of fall back and little if any social security. In Lao it amounts to cultural erosion and increased vulnerability. Creative industries need to be taken more seriously in development circles.