One of the Philippines most endearing brands since 1970, Narda’s signature designs are hand-woven by Philippine traditional weavers using the finest cotton with the Ikat designs in the Cordilleran Highlands of Luzon Island.
The Cordilleran Ikat is a very old tradition of tying and dyeing segments of threads before actual weaving. It is tedious and complicated process of tying, dyeing, retying and redyeingthe Ikat yarns. That’s just the dyeing part! The difficult part is mounting the loom. Every warp thread is inserted by hand through the reed comb. One wrong insertion and the weaver has to dismount and reinsert the right warp count once more then remount the warp on the loom again! This step needs utmost focus. Throwing the weft, the step you’re probably familiar with, is the easiest part.
Narda’s weavers are expert Cordilleran traditional weavers who produce the best quality textiles.
They are based in Baguio, a mountain city located 7 hours away from Manila. Through collaboration with fashion designers, the hand-woven ikat textiles are showcased to the Fashion World.
This new collection was designed by Alexander Lara Cristobal. He makes clothes meticulously that each garment is skillfully done to ensure high quality standards. Though he’s a graduate of the Philippine School of Interior Design (PSiD), he followed his passion for fashion.
Narda Capuyan, Narda’s founder, revived the Cordilleran Ikat tradition practised by her Ifugao indigenous people. She and her husband Wilson Capuyan started Narda’s in 1970 in La Trinidad, Benguet, Philippines weaving blankets from recycled acrylic yarns. Narda Capuyan, a family planning nurse whose hand-knitting hobby attracted the mothers, encouraged the women to weave to keep them busy from making more babies. Weaving is a traditional skill and the indigenous women have now become productive weavers.
Narda’s provided regular jobs to over 600 Cordilleran women weavers, until the earthquake hit Baguio in 1990. She garnered numerous local and international awards, most outstanding of which are the 1982 GOLDEN SHELL AWARD, 1999 100 WOMEN OF THE PHILIPPINES, 2013 ERNST & YOUNG PHILIPPINES, 2015 WOMEN ICONS OF APEC, and the 2016 OUTSTANDING ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR. Narda Capuyan is a Philippine Cordilleran cultural icon.
Narda’s brand continues to innovate with the use of natural dyes from the surrounding environment; and the use of indigenous yarns. Lucia Catanes (Narda’s daughter) heads the company now, constantly keeping the decades old brand relevant to the changing fashion lifestyle! Narda’s has participated in the Aspara Fashion Week, and recently showed their new Collection at the Tenun Fashion Week 2021.
Visit us online at www.nardas.com
Media Coordination:Saif Rahman Sozib