Xula Palm Craft

Handmade designs from palm leaves in the Oaxacan Cañada region

As an ancestral tradition prior to the founding of Santa María Ixcatlán (a community of 500 residents, located in the mountainous Cañada region of the state of Oaxaca, southern Mexico), palm weaving was formally organized in the community under the collective known as "Xula" in collaboration with Tejiendo Alianzas AC. Through this joint work, Xula began to learn and explore contemporary palm-based craft designs that expanded their market beyond the borders of their community. Once the brand was designed and a wholesale customer with strong sales channels established, Xula began producing orders for hotels in Mexico and artists arriving from as far away as Korea. Sales in 2018 increased local income by more than 1000% per participating family. This community business benefits at least five entire families because all members join the effort when a large order arrives.

Despite these enormous achievements, Xula's dependence on a wholesaler has not allowed the group to position its brand or maintain stable sales. Based on past sales, they have determined that they should target companies and individuals in the market segment called "LOHAS" (Healthy and Sustainable Lifestyles), who are interested in products that reflect a positive social impact, that their purchase clearly benefits local families, as well as their communities, and that producers engage in practices that minimize or eliminate environmental damage.


What the LOHAS consumer buys connects them with other people, cultures, realities, and memories if they have had direct contact with the producers or if they were ever tourists in that particular location.

Xula's sales benefit not only these families, but also the entire community of Santa María Ixcatlán. The Xula collective will donate a percentage of its profits to new projects and micro-businesses launched locally once Xula's sales are sustainable and grow over a two-year period.

While estimates for the LOHAS market segment have exceeded 30% of the U.S. consumer market, competition among high-end artisans in the sustainable consumer goods industry has grown fierce, challenging sales strategies, especially for imported goods.

Xula currently sells its products to individual consumers and business owners (restaurants, hotels, designer stores) through its website, Instagram, and Facebook and through Oaxifornia. Customers appreciate the intricate, functional, and contemporary designs, and the fact that the products are 100% handmade by indigenous families, reflecting a contemporary spin on an ancient tradition.

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RESULTS

  • Capacity development: understanding and calculating production costs, accounting skills, sales strategies.

  • Completion of the largest individual sale of Xula products to a customer: 1,600 different palm products for the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Baja California, generating $ 500,000 MXN ($21,000 USD) for the community.

  • Income increased by 1000% per family (25 people in total) due to obtaining new clients.

  • Members of the Xula group selected two possible community projects that they want to sponsor with their savings.

  • Report on the local news channel TV Azteca

  • A video news segment done by the famous Mexican reporter, Carolina Rocha.