Welcome to MayaBags®
MayaBags® Takes World Responsibility Seriously
MayaBags® offers an array of hand-crafted products created by Maya women and designed for modern use.
Our Company and product lines are driven by a five-fold mission:
- to help Maya craftswomen of impoverished southern Belize become income earners in their households, raising their self-esteem and giving them Independence,
- to help Maya women pay for school fees, books, uniforms and transportation required to educate their children,
- to support the continuation of traditional Maya hand-skills such as embroidery, back strap looming, basketry, and wood carving,
- to use as design motifs icons of Belizean biodiversity and Maya cultural history in the creation of our products, celebrating and bringing attention to the value of the natural world and cultural diversity in our lives,
- to uphold principles of Fair Trade in every effort Mayabags® undertakes.
- We ensure fair wages are paid for each hour it takes to execute a product.
(To achieve this, we time three women of varying skill levels on the execution of each piece of embroidery or weaving we do. Based on the median time between the three women, we establish our pricing for a piece.)
- No child or teen under the age of 18 works for MayaBags®.
- The women are given professional “tools of trade” and training to make the work easier and help them succeed.
- Expenses incurred by the women are reimbursed, such as bus passage to and from their Maya villages when they deliver their pieces to our workshop in Punta Gorda.
- We ensure fair wages are paid for each hour it takes to execute a product.
To find out more about MayaBags®, meet our artisans, explore and purchase our products, see where MayaBags® is making news, or to find out how to contact us in New York or Belize, just click on the labels in our navigation bar at the top or bottom of each page. We hope you enjoy your exploration and support what we do with purchases!
