Trama Textiles

Trama Textiles advances economic empowerment, educational opportunity, and cultural preservation for Indigenous Mayan women in Guatemala. We generate sustainable livelihoods through fair-trade sales of backstrap-woven textiles, ensuring artisans receive dignified compensation for their craftsmanship.

Our community-centered model welcomes researchers, interns, volunteers, and global partners as collaborators in long-term development. Through ethical retail channels and strategic wholesale alliances, we expand market access that secures ongoing work for our weavers and strengthens the social fabric of their families and communities. Our commitment is to cultivate intergenerational impact—empowering today’s artisans while opening brighter, more equitable opportunities for their children.

We are Trama Textiles, a 100% worker-owned women’s weaving cooperative in Guatemala. We produce high-quality accessories, homewares and clothing that offer a fair wage to our weavers, and offer weaving classes to teach people the ancient art of Mayan weaving.

We work with over 100 women, in 14 weaving groups, across five regions in Guatemala’s Western highlands. We pay our artisans a fair wage, which they determine, meaning they can provide a sustainable income for themselves and their families.

Trama Textiles was formed in 1988, as a result of the Guatemalan civil war. The war had a devastating impact on many communities. Many men died or disappeared, leaving the large majority of the women as widows and many children orphaned. With few men left to work, we had no income to support ourselves, and times were very hard.

During this difficult time, we came together in our communities, and decided to use our skills as weavers to support ourselves and our families, and formed the cooperative. The cooperative gave us a sense of purpose, and we started to work together to create new designs, choose colors, and dye and weave our textiles. Little by little, we began to grow stronger and started to look towards a better future.

Today, our artisans proudly weave our products, providing themselves with a sustainable income, and carrying on the ancient textile art of Mayan weaving that has sustained our cultures and communities for over 1,500 years.