Impact

TEXTURE MAKES LIFE MORE BEAUTIFUL NOW

Our Talented Captain of the Boat Making Flowers, Grasshoppers, Necklaces & Bracelets out of Leaves. Courtesy of Wild Tussah.

Courtesy of Wild Tussah. Our Talented Captain of the Boat Making Flowers, Grasshoppers, Necklaces & Bracelets out of Leaves.

The exquisite textures created by weaving have added exceptional richness and grace to the lives of many challenged people. Today, we are sharing the stories of communities who have built healthy economies around their traditional weave cultures, thanks to a visionary designer.

WILD TUSSAH

Wild Tussah, a socially conscious sustainable fashion company, aims to preserve traditional weave cultures through art and design pieces developed for contemporary tastes. They are changing people’s lives by creating demand for their traditions.

Founded by sustainable fashion designer, Danica Ratte, Wild Tussah maintains relationships with a network of local ethnic weaving villages in Vietnam who are under economic pressure and need support. Currently, they are working with Lu, Cham, and Hmong weavers.

By preserving ancient weaving techniques, Wild Tussah creating jobs for local artisan weavers. The gorgeous weaves are mostly made of cotton, hemp, or other natural fibers.

The fabrics are dyed are variety of colors, mostly using only natural dyes, extracted from leaves, rind, stems and roots of plants that can be found in the nearby forests. The Cham buy their threads already dyed.

Lu are a unique, remote group of people who live in the northern mountains of Vietnam. They are distinguished by their black teeth dyed with a black-honey shrub and benzoin resin paste.

Before getting married, all Lu girls must know how to weave. They start learning when they are young children. A Lu bride-to-be spends a whole year making her dress.

Lu fabrics are also featured in Wild Tussah’s Day to Night Bags. Lu artisans can take up to 6 months to both weave and embroider a completed pattern.

The Cham use two types of traditional looms in their weaving -- the ‘daneng aban khan’, which produces wide cloth sheets, and the ‘daneng jihdalah’, which produces longer and narrower cloth sheets.

Wild Tussah also works with rare, vintage and hard-to-find sustainable fabrics that are 100% made in Vietnam. These textiles are also used to create ethical bags.

Check out Wild Tussah’s Cham Totes. The bags are not only made sustainably, but they are so stylish, they outlast seasonal trends.

While the colors and textures of Wild Tussah clothing and accessories are so beautiful to see and touch, we love knowing their provenance. Every time you wear something made by their artisans, you know how the color and texture of their lives have been restored and are sustained.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

Image: Courtesy of Wild Tussah. Our Talented Captain of the Boat Making Flowers, Grasshoppers, Necklaces & Bracelets out of Leaves.
Image: Courtesy of Wild Tussah.
Image: Courtesy of Wild Tussah. Mrs. Nga.
Image: Courtesy of Wild Tussah. Cham Traditional Loom.
Image: Courtesy of Wild Tussah. Danica Looking at the Cham Weaves in the Workshop.
Image: by guido hekhuizen. Black Teeth as a Sign of Beauty. Lu Woman.
Image: by kafranb10. Hoa Lu, Vietnam.
Image: by Danica Ratte. Courtesy of Wild Tussah. Day to Night Bag.
Image: Courtesy of Wild Tussah. Cham Traditional Loom.
Image: Courtesy of Wild Tussah. Orange Flower Hmong Weave.
Image: Courtesy of Wild Tussah. Cham Tote. Purple Weave.
Image: Courtesy of Wild Tussah. Day to Night Shoulder Bag.
Image: Courtesy of Wild Tussah. Traditional Loom.
Image: Courtesy of Wild Tussah. Blue Flower Hmong Curtain Weave.
Image: by BN App - Download now!
Image: Courtesy of Wild Tussah. Day to Night. Purple Diamond Weave.