Piña Weaving in Aklan: The People Behind the Fabric
Elizabeth Nagales Rasonable Shares The Work Behind Aklan’s Piña Fabric
and the Training of New Weavers
Piña is a fabric made in the Philippines from fibers taken from pineapple leaves. A significant part of the process, from preparing the fiber to weaving, is still done by hand.
One of the main centers of piña production remains the province of Aklan. Alongside pure piña, blended fabrics are also used, including piña seda, a mixture of piña and silk.
Elizabeth’s First Loom
We spoke with Elizabeth Nagales Rasonable, who began learning to weave in 1995. Over the next thirty years, her work grew from a single loom of her own into a production business that today employs around 150 weavers.
Before getting married, Elizabeth did not work with piña. She was introduced to this work through her husband's family, which had been growing pineapples for piña production for several generations.
Elizabeth decided that they should not limit themselves to producing raw material and wanted to try producing the fabric itself. At around the age of 20, she began learning to weave on a loom made by her husband.
She learned to weave in only two months. On average, training takes about a year, but it all depends on the person and their persistence, Elizabeth says.
Of all the stages of piña production including growing pineapples, extracting the fiber, and weaving, Elizabeth considers weaving the most difficult.
But although weaving is considered the most difficult stage of piña production, the main problem was still finding buyers for the finished fabric. We can talk as much as we want about preserving craft, environmentally responsible production, and historical roots, but if a craftsperson cannot sell their work, what are they supposed to live on?
What Has Changed in Piña Weaving Production
Since Elizabeth began weaving, piña seda has become increasingly common. It is easier to weave and less expensive, while piña still remains part of the fabric. It is also easier to embroider, including by hand. Pure piña has an uneven structure, so embroiderers have to constantly adjust their hand movements to the material.
Elizabeth remembers that pineapple leaf fiber used to be extracted manually, including in running water using a shard of broken plate. Today, machines are used for fiber extraction. Manual extraction was physically demanding work, and spending long periods kneeling eventually led to problems with workers' knees.
The weaving itself, however, is still done by hand. Despite the introduction of equipment at some stages, Elizabeth says that the actual method of weaving has not changed.
Training and Employing Weavers
Elizabeth plans to hire more weavers. There is no shortage of people who want to learn, and there are many new applicants.
Today, Elizabeth Nagales Rasonable runs her own piña production business in Aklan and serves as president of the Aklan Piña Fiber Weaver and Workers Association, an association of weavers and workers connected with piña production. Through her own business, she trains new weavers and provides people with work.
At the same time, young people now have more alternatives. Elizabeth mentions online work, call centers, and jobs abroad.
Skills are also no longer passed down only within families. According to Elizabeth, training programs, workers' organizations, and weaving businesses themselves help new weavers learn from more experienced workers.
Piña cocoon silk fabric made from 50% piña fiber and 50% natural silk.
Image credit: Anton Dvoryadkin
From Pineapple Leaves to Finished Fabric
When I asked Elizabeth which part of the piña-making process people usually do not see or understand, she said that buyers often do not realize how much work is required before piña becomes a finished fabric.
It begins with growing pineapples, usually the Red Spanish variety. Before the leaves can be used for fiber extraction, the plant has to mature. This generally takes around 18 to 24 months.
The leaves are then cut and collected. The fibers are extracted from them, washed, cleaned, and dried.
The dried fibers are sorted by quality and thickness. Then comes one of the most painstaking stages, pagpanug-ot, in which individual short fibers are joined by hand to create a long continuous thread.
After this, the threads are prepared for weaving. They are wound and arranged to form the warp. Only then does the actual weaving begin on a handloom.
After weaving, depending on how the fabric will be used, the cloth may go through additional processing.
Recognition and Demand
Elizabeth's story shows that commercial production and craft preservation can exist together. Demand allows production to grow, provide people with work, and keep hand weaving alive as a working practice rather than only as something from the past.
Government programs aimed at developing this craft have also played an important role. In 2023, traditional piña handloom weaving in the province of Aklan was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This brought international recognition to the craft and additional attention to the work of local weavers, as well as to the need to preserve and pass on their skills to future generations.
Author and Bio
Josip Tumapa is a Filipino fashion designer, founder of Josip Tumapa Design, and writer on Barong Tagalog, Filipiniana, traditional Filipino handwork, and Philippine textiles.
Anton Dvoryadkin is the studio’s General Manager and writes about Filipino fashion, formalwear, and contemporary Filipiniana.
For more information, visit:
Website: https://josiptumapa.com/