Tradition, Quality, and Sustainability

It all starts with cotton. In San Pablo Villa de Mitla, cotton is planted in October and then harvested between March and May of the following year.

The harvested cotton fibers are then painstakingly pulled & twisted together to make thread. At the Cocijo Workshop they use a spinning wheel to produce the thread for the ornate telar fabric you see on our Brisa Pants.

This is where threads are carefully aligned, in parallel, on a wooden frame, for eventual transfer to the pedal loom.

This is where each thread in the warp is mounted to the pedal loom for weaving. Individual threads are meticulously mounted on the loom; being placed through the heald wires (see photo) which help to stabilize and guide the threads during the weaving process. This process is very time consuming, requiring lots of patience, and can take up to 7 hours to complete!

The warp (vertical threads) is then wound onto a roll, called the warp beam, at the back of the pedal loom. This is done with a manual lever and can take up to 2 hours to complete.

Finally the weaving process can begin! The textile artisan weaves the telar by interlacing the weft (horizontal thread) with the warp (vertical threads). This is done, by using pedals on the loom to spread apart the warp threads allowing for the shuttle to pass back and forth, in-between, carrying the weft thread. Click on the link below to see a video of the weaving process.