Chula Endorses Cultural Capital Development Model for Comprehensive Textile Weaving Upgrading Local Brands to Go International, Paving the Way for Cultural Tourism Routes While Promoting Sustainable Communities

Chula plays a part in developing the local economy by endorsing a systematic and comprehensive cultural capital development model from the creation of fiber and textile innovations to the design of lifestyle fashion items to promote the creative economy, provide added value to the fashion industry, and the production process by considering the creation of brands and competitors’ markets along with the creative tourism business to help generate income leading to sustainable community development. 

Textiles are a part of the cultural artifacts that reflect the identity, way of life, and wisdom of members of various ethnic groups and countries whether in the weaving methods, materials, dyeing, textile design, or forms of wearing, etc.  They are part of the heritage that people in each society have passed down from one generation to another for the past hundreds of years and, unfortunately, such a valuable cultural feature has now become nothing but souvenir items or garments worn on special occasions. 

To restore its value to ensure its survival in today’s world we need to make sure that artistic creations can blend the traditional value with modern lifestyles of today. With this intention along with her expertise in fashion, Professor Dr. Patcha U-Tiswannakul, Head of the Fashion and Creative Arts Research Unit (FAC-RU), Department of Creative Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University an outstanding national researcher in Philosophy for 2023, from the National Research Council, has initiated “the lifestyle product industrial innovation from Nan Province to the World to Promote Creative Tourism (2020-2022)”.   

According to Prof. Dr. Patcha “Thailand is rich in its diverse forms of cultural capital scattered around the country each with their own unique identity some of which are connected to the ethnic groups of each neighboring country.  Unfortunately, they might eventually disappear as a result of the lack of comprehensive development and marketing strategies which means these textiles do not answer the needs of consumer markets of today – a classic case often found among the weaving communities here in Thailand.”  

With support from Chula’s Second Century Fund: C2F, a team of researchers, lecturers, and CU alumni headed by Prof. Dr. Patcha have helped pioneer a cluster of textile weaving in Nan Province.  Together they have studied the problems in the local context to create a model to develop the cultural capital to build a specific identity of a lifestyle fashion product into an original cluster.  The task involves the innovative development of fibers and weaving techniques such as adopting natural plant extracts as color dyes or the unique designs of ethnic groups in Nan along with local techniques for extracting color in fashion creations.   

“We have designed our textiles and turned them into lifestyle fashion products to promote the style of tourism that is currently popular thereby upgrading the status of these products, promoting marketing possibilities, and developing creative tourism.  We hope that this model can help drive the community industrial economy to sustainable markets at both the national and international levels.  Our aspirations even include having this model applied to other cultural capital products in all other regions around Thailand.”

Researching the problems and extending the spirit of Thai textiles into contemporary lifestyles

The people of Nan trace back some of their ancestors to the Tai folk who had migrated from the Lanchang Kingdom or Lao PDR of today comprising several ethnic groups known by different names in the urban and rural settlement areas.  Each of the groups had their particular way of life, beliefs, and rituals and with some cultural borrowings and fusions, it brought about a form of weaving culture in Nan Province that is distinctively unique.   

Prof. Dr. Patcha went on to explain that “…this diversity of beliefs, rituals and sign systems is what makes the weaving, dyeing techniques and method of processing the native products of each group very different from each other.  This posed a great challenge to us when we tried to create a weaving design unique to Nan Province.”

Aside from the issue of diverse uniqueness, producing the kind of textiles that correspond with the needs of today’s customers who are part of the fast fashion trends means that a wider range of sales avenues need to be provided along with enabling the branding that is reflective of cultural capital to be better known and trusted. Citing the Mong style of clothing Prof. Dr. Patcha observes that “textile products from local communities can sometimes be identified too closely with their original ethnic signs making them appear more as a souvenir item and not an item of clothing to be used in a normal daily life setting.  There’s nothing wrong with souvenirs but if a product retains too much of its origins and isn’t developed to suit the needs of its target group which has evolved and embraced more cosmopolitan, even Western tastes this can result in a rather limited and limiting effect.”   

The research team journeyed to Nan to study and work with the community so that together they could derive an identity while also achieving a more contemporary look to that textile industry, making it more attractive to the international market and expanding the market’s target group so that it involves consumers from a new generation as well.  

A comprehensive model for developing cultural capital

Most of the time, efforts to promote and develop community products are centered around the demands of the market or with some additions, marketing promotion.  The best way possible is a comprehensive development of cultural capital in a systematic manner whether upstream, midstream, or downstream.   For the midstream or downstream, Prof. Dr. Patcha said “This is about developing products that are currently in trend.  We also need to open new markets.  For this project, we are employing the model of developing creative tourism via the textile culture.” 

To elaborate, the comprehensive model for developing cultural capital comprises these 7 steps namely: 

1. Creative consulting by cooperating with professional designers to develop new products 
2. Extract the community’s specialized knowledge 
3. Finding solutions to problems according to each cluster by trying to make them multi-purpose products
4. Develop a textile innovation based on cultural capital for each cluster to be used specifically for that group
5. Develop products so that they have a contemporary quality by blending in Western designs – each product line can be classified into three levels
   • Luxury level for the exclusive high-end market
   • Traditional aimed towards the more conservative group that prefers the original designs
   • In trend level aimed at the new generation who prefers simple, minimalist designs that reflect their lifestyle   
6. Push forth new brands for each of the products 
7. Increase the channels for sales opportunities both in stores and online  

Eight new brands for Nan Textiles

According to Prof. Dr. Patcha, it is not an easy task to get the members of the local community to accept new ideas and the proposals made to them by the research team.  

“Many of them are stuck with traditional forms of production.  We had to present a case study of the groups that tried out our model from upstream, midstream to downstream and became successful.  This encouraged the others to follow and adopt our proposals.”

 “The project started with 8 textile weaving groups in Nan.  We gathered lecturers and students from the Department of Creative Arts and were joined by alumni of the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts who are well-known figures in the fashion world and have worked in both the private and government sectors.  Their target was to create an identity for the 8 target groups.” 

The 8 textile products groups are

Group 1 the Sao Luang Weaving Group – before entering the project this group still lacked a home textile product. The research team helped to develop the concepts which led to a collection of items to be used at home. Branded as “Soul Lung” the products drew inspiration from Tak’s ancient kilns in Bo Suak village, Nan. 

Group 2 Waraporn textile shop in Wiang Sa.  Previously they hadn’t found a way to develop their designs and simply followed the trends of whatever was popular.  The group helped develop a collection of garments and women’s wear for semi-formal (party or business) events.  These were inspired by the idea of the relationship between darkness and light from the perspective of developing a structure that was at once structurally architectural as it was contemporary in terms of fashion.  Infused with novel ideas and striking designs Waraporn has now evolved into a new brand now known as “WORA”.

Group 3 Ratanaporn Wax Hand Drawing in Nan’s Pua District.  Known for their indigo dyed and wax hand drawings the research team introduced what is known as minimal deconstruction to their work and created a new brand known by the name of “Mon Kram” a lifestyle fashion product with a charm of its own.  Tai Lue designs have been reinterpreted and modernized into attractive geometrical forms

Group 4 Faingern Shop combines new textiles with old designs from their original collection to create a collection of casual-party and maximal feminine-themed garments under the brand name “FAINGERN”.  The brand features Tai Lue designs that have been reinterpreted into attractive geometrical forms thus perfectly combining the old and the new in what they now have to offer. 

Group 5 The Natural Dyes Group at Baan Pang Kom, Song Kwae District – previously the color dye powders they used had yet to be developed into the powders with distinct colors deriving from local flora found in the area.  Now a product known as  “Nana Colours” they draw inspiration from the way traditional forms of cultural capital are blended into the Global Culture of today.  Using print and dye techniques like stone tie dye, leaf prints, and steel rust designs these are what the group is best known for, developed for over 30 years.  

Group 6 The Tai Lue Textile Weaving Group at Baan Get, Pua District is well-known for their skillful work based on the original Tai Lue designs that have been applied to several products such as weavings, knick-knacks and home furnishings.  The group is also famous for its cocoa dyes producing items that later became popular among the M and Y Generations under the brand name “Lifecocoa” created through the concept of linking the timeless features of sustainable culture and nature that come with sustainable concerns.  

Group 7 The Tai Lue Textile Weaving Group at Baan Don Mul, Tha Wang Pha District previously worked with dyes, weaving, and creating products like ready-to-wear clothing and lifestyle decorative items.  Their natural dyes come from local materials found in the area like Kham Saed seeds and tree bark.  It was noted that their garments were rather big and loose-fitting in form.  New designs were introduced for casualwear, streetwear with bold and lively characteristics infused with bright, vivid colors that came to be known by the brand name “ThaiMool”.

Group 8 Miss A products with their collection of items like bags and accessories.  They have been introduced to new techniques in making bags incorporating local leather and textiles to also produce clothing and accessories with sportswear and streetwear items known by the brand name “Sasudee”.  Inspired by what they call the SPIRIT OF TAI LUE they have successfully presented ancient cultural features by blending them perfectly with chic, modern features.  

Two Cultural Capital Tourism Destinations

Once the products have been modernized, one of the plans to enhance marketing and community economics has to do with tourism.  The research team then came up with a plan that offers 2 creative tourism routes according to the types of activities and the number of days tourists can visit.  

1. Shop, Taste, and Share is designed for those who wish to visit business operators, purchase souvenir items, and sample some of the local fare of food and beverage.  
2. Textile and Craft Destination is best for tourists who wish to gain hands-on experience from some of the activities there are to offer like weaving or dyeing textiles.  

The research team hopes that these two tourist destinations will enable the communities to become self-sufficient from the income generated by the sales of products and tourism. 

“As part of the research, our team of lecturers and alumni work started with idea adjustment of business operators, conducting training courses, teaching new designs, marketing plans, developing new sales channels, window displays and finally looking for tourists to visit the cultural capital destinations.  Problems abound requiring solutions such as water shortages, incorrect display of merchandise, and finding local desserts to welcome visitors.”    

Prof. Dr. Patcha added, “This brings happiness, and contentment when seeing that the community’s cultural products can be sold and this helps improve their lives.  At the same time, our Fine and Applied Arts students also benefit from learning and finding ways to solve problems through actual work experience in the field.”

A sustainable move for Thai textiles

The success of Thai textiles depends not only on the quality of the textiles (where colors don’t run, clothes don’t shrink, and are comfortable to wear) but for a professor of industrial fashion it is also the popularity with the consumers that count. 

“A good sales volume signifies success in commercial art which doesn’t only mean that people admire your work but don’t pay for it.  The success of a textile comes when it is desired by people around the world who want to wear this brand or clothing of this style.”

With years of experience dealing with business operators in local communities, Prof. Dr. Patcha is realistic about the challenges that remain to be dealt with.

“Business entrepreneurs are usually into retail selling, piece by piece in their shops or online.  This means that the earnings don’t come in sizeable amounts, and sales orders and manufacturing are also not consistent.  One must admit that when it comes to Thai textiles, the emphasis is still based on production at the community level and we are still unable to do the designing, weaving, and finding of large-scale markets so that we can sell the products on our own.  There is also the question that the world’s largest textile markets are still brand conscious but are mostly used to Western designers.” 

 Prof. Dr. Patcha sees that the way out is that “Thailand must have a co-sale or middleman in conducting their businesses to coordinate between the Thai and foreign markets.  If this can be achieved then we can be assured of a more consistent income and greater acceptance. “

She also pins her hopes on the new generation – entrepreneurs and clients who can continue to infuse life into Thailand’s cultural capital. 

 “Making products with cultural origins sustainable doesn’t only depend on their quality and appearance but business operators must adjust their ways of thinking to keep up with the times, look for designs that make the garments easy to wear daily, and see to it that the prices are affordable to the majority of shoppers.  They should also be on the lookout for new markets to increase the number of orders and most importantly attract the new generation to continue to run the business in the future.”

Communities and business operators who would like to consult with us on developing local products or wish to share stories on “creative tourism” can contact Chula Creative Tourism Academy (CUCT) email: creativejourneyth@gmail.com;
Facebook: creativejourneyth, or https://www.creativejourneyth.com/

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