How it Works

each top has a story

Come Along on the Journey of a Huipil Top

Each of our arloom pieces starts in Guatemala as a traditional piece of clothing, a huipil. A huipil is a traditional garment worn by indigenous women and is made from fabric woven on a backstop loom with designs woven into the fabric.

Read on to see how we re-work each unique piece to what you find on our site.

FIRST -

The arloom team sources textiles in Guatemala working with families and collectors that they have built relationships with over the past 10 years.

These pieces look quite a bit different than what we end up bringing to you. They are all beautiful, but many have seen better days and are not wearable, stained, or in need of a refresh.

Each textile is vintage - 10 or 20-year-old traditional huipil textiles that are ready for a new life.

Robin, founder + creative behind arloom, hand-selects every piece that we choose. She curates our unique collection to feature only handwoven (no machine made), traditional huipil textiles.

SECOND

Once the textiles are sourced we get them to our studio in Wimberley, TX where we wash, repair and sort them.

One of our favorite parts of the entire process is when our design team lets their creative juices flow and begins to give these traditional textiles a new life.

THIRD

Once our team has sorted and decided on what each piece will eventually become, they pass them on to our local production team to work their magic. We work hard to keep the integrity of each piece and stay true to the original form.

Each piece then gets reworked into our vision by independent contract seamstresses and small local production teams we work with.

FOURTH

The final stop on the Huipil Top's journey?

Your closet! 😉