Project name: Soieries du Mekong, Cambodia

Project type: Interview with local changemakers; sustainable fashion

Duration: One hour, February 2018

One of the many legends says that a silk cocoon fell in the cup of tea of a Chinese princess, and by trying to pull it out she discovered that it would unroll into long strings, leading to what we call today Silk...

Soieries du Mekong was founded in 2001, with the purpose to provide an alternative to agriculture and help local families out of the poverty and loan dependency cycle through silk production.

In Cambodia, 92% of people living below the poverty threshold live in rural areas. The majority of these people are women, according to the UN Women report, they represent 82% of the underground economy, with very low income and social protection. Moreover, 75% of women work in the agriculture sector, mostly with their families, generating an income only a few months per year during the harvest at the raining season. This means that rural households in Cambodia are strongly dependent on climate vagaries.

If a harvest goes bad, a given household has to contract a loan with local micro-finance institutions at a very high interests, and when this household can't pay back the loan, which appears to be a majority of cases, this household has to contract another loan with the local godfather to pay back the micro-finance institution. This cycle repeats and the household can't pay back the local godfather, lose its ownership and home land and often migrates to Thailand looking for a better life.

That is the infernal cycle Soieries du Mekong strives to break. It employs 60 people, 95 per cent of which women, for a salary which is 25 per cent higher than the national average, high enough for all the family for an entire year, therefore hedging the risk of a bad harvest for a given year. In addition, each employee has 2 health insurance, life and accident insurance covering the extended family. Through its activities, Soieries du Mekong estimates that it reaches directly and indirectly 300 people.

Now let's talk a bit more about Silk and how it is made.

The silk worms are fed mulberry leaves to grow and produce its cocoon. Very few plantations are left in Cambodia because of the war so Soierie du Mekong imports approx 1 tonne a year.

To harvest the fibre, the cocoons are boiled, the worm pulled out and eaten (apparently it's not very tasty, dixit Julie). There is another way to separate the worm from the cocoon without killing the worm, but it is not used in South East Asia.

When they receive the fibre thread, the first step is de-gumming (cleaning in water and soap) and dyeing. Pigments from Dystar, a German company, are used.

The wastewater is treated with rice husks (we told you you could do anything with rice husk; see our blogpost "Postcard from Cambodia") and the remains are burnt. The social enterprise is aware that it may not be the most sustainable option from an air pollution perspective but at least the wastewater is not spilled and leached in local water reserves, a scarce resource around here...

Then spooling, wharping, sleying, tying up, weaving and finishing, for a total of 54 to 62 hours of work. Soieries du Mekong produces 7,000 scarfs a year on average and sells it in different retail outlets, both in Cambodia and abroad.

The company is funded by a philanthropist organisation called Les Enfants Du Mekong, is almost financially autonomous with an incrase in turnover of 22% for its Cambodian operations. Its future projects include increasing partnerships with high-street luxury brands and provide more jobs, a better access to health and retirement for its employees.

Poverty, often linked with the loss of ownership of one's land, is a terrible form of violence. Beyond preserving a cultural heritage of hand silk-weaving that existed for millenniums and is next to extinction due to poverty and migration, Soieries du Mekong supports more and more rural households in the pursue of a more stable income.

Please feel free to visit their website: www.soieriesdumekong.com or contact us for more information.