MayaBags®             

  from WorldWrappers, Inc. in the U.S.

& from Belize Crafts, Ltd. in Belize

From the rainforest of Southern Belize where the Mayas have lived and roamed for over 2000 years, come MayaBags®, travel-organizing and gift bags, hand-embroidered by Maya women. 

MayaBags® offer you the most beautiful bags on the market.  Using delicate themes of nature or ancient Maya symbols, the bags appeal to the global traveler, the student and to the environmentalist. Not only are MayaBags® beautiful and useful, a purchase of a MayaBag® product makes you a socially-conscious shopper. 

MayaBags® works in six villages of the Maya Mountains and currently with over 50 women.  We offer Maya women the opportunity to become income earners and, as such, to give them independence within their household and build their self-esteem within their community.  By providing work and assisting the women with quality and design, MayaBags® also supports the continuation of the Mayas' traditional skill of embroidery.  The women are paid good market wages up front for every piece they embroider, and we uphold the values established by fair trade.   In addition to embroidering, Maya women also sew the bags in our sewing workshop in Punta Gorda, Belize.  From start to finish, these bags are made by Maya women.

The Maya women in the villages where we work also own 42% of Belize Crafts, Ltd. in,  while a conservation organization The Toledo Institute for Development and the Environment (TIDE) owns 7% of Belize Crafts, Ltd., and  Judy Bergsma, MayaBags® founder and sole investor, maintains a 51% share.  Her hope is for the business to become sustainable in Belize and to pass her shares over to the Maya women and TIDE. 

MayaBags® also encourages people to use sustainable gift-wrapping.  The bags we produce can be hand-laundered and used over and over again.  They require no scotch-tape, paper or throw-away ribbon.

To explore our product lines or to find out more about us, click on the buttons below. In the US, , you can use our on-line catalog to shop.  In Belize, please contact Desiree Arnold by email at belizeexecutivedirector@mayabags.org. Each MayaBag® you buy comes filled with heart, soul, history, tradition and, above all, a thank you from the woman who embroidered it.