Traditional Weaving Craft Fades Away in Pathein
By Network Media Group
Friday, July 21, 2023
Traditional hand weaving has all but disappeared in Pathein. There used to be a thriving community creating sarongs for women and longyis for men, as well as other wearable fabrics in Irrawaddy Region, but now there are only 10 people employed in this vocation, according to locals from the town.
This year, “there are only two hand weaving factories in Pathein that make Karen (Kayin) and Kayah (Karenni) traditional cloths,” a 75-year-old male weaver told NMG on condition of anonymity. He said one was in Yetkan Kwet Thit Ward and Karen Amyothamee Kon.
Numbers started to decrease in 1988 after machine looms became available.
In the past, there were about 150 factories in Yetkan Kwet Thit, Zayya Waddy, Aung Chan Tha, Ngawon Kyun Tha, Nithtaung Tan, Weiluwun, Myopat Lan, Obo Tan, Min Yak Tan, and Karen Amyothamee Kon wards of Pathein.
While traditional hand weavers cannot match the production rate offered by new machinery, other contributing factors is a decline in skilled labour and the rise in cotton prices.
“The remaining factories are producing all of the Karen and Karenni weaving factories, and other weavers cannot make a regular income, so they change careers,” said Daw Thein Aye, a 50-year-old employed in the industry.
With the price of materials rising, the Pathein weavers can’t compete with items being produced in Mandalay where the Chinese-made yarn is much cheaper to buy. In the past, the weavers in the Irrawaddy Region sent their creations to Rakhine state, Bago, and Yangon, but no longer.
