Technology Improvements

One of the legacies of the former Soviet Union was that it built for economies of scale. This meant that when the Union collapsed, the giant facilities they had built no longer had demand to support them, and thus collapsed as well. This did not, however, mean that there was no demand at all.

Now, 20 years later, people are developing to the point where they have the income to attend to some of those demands. Here in Naryn, this often comes in two forms: sewing cooperatives and felting cooperatives.

Felt Cooperatives

In this case, women have taken their traditional arts, and expanded them into small cottage industries. Women either make colorful, symmetrical, and highly natural shyrdaks (felt rugs); or they make other crafts, like hats, slippers and bags. While the traditional method of pressing wool into felt will generally suffice for these operations, the most desired technology is carding machines.

Carding is the process where clumps of freshly shorn wool are pulled in preparation for further use.  In the west, this is usually done in order for the wool to be spun into thread or yarn. In Kyrgyzstan, once carded, wool is pressed into felt. But the process is highly labor intensive, and a carding machine, even manual powered, can improved productivity of a single work by more then 10 times.

While I have thus far be personally unable to procure carding machines for the cooperatives I work with, I am currently advising the fine folks at the Kyrgyzstan New Zealand Rural Trust on which model would work best, and where they might be best received.

Sewing Cooperatives

Women, skilled as seamstresses, are eager to work sewing traditional crafts like seat cushions, Kurak (SP?) and other wall hangings, as well as more modern items, like clothing and curtains. A large impediment to supply, however, is technology: in order for women to make a consistent income in this way, they need modern sewing machines.

In the more developed parts of Kyrgyzstan, like around the capital, Bishkek, this type of work is already a booming business: Kyrgyzstan is Russia’s second largest supplier of women’s bras and blouses, behind China. But in the deeper, rural areas, like Naryn, these operations have yet to materialize. That is where we come in.

To date, using funds from America donated the Peace Corps Partnership Program, I have procured 8 sewing machines for a unique cooperative here in Naryn city. This cooperative not only designs all of their clothing themselves, they use local materials in product.

The Tunduk Uz cooperative approached me last year, and asked if I might help them procure some sewing machines. I told them I could, but gave them several tasks to complete before I’d help. These included getting official prices from several reliable dealers, and writing up a business plan for how the would use these machines to improve production and membership in their co-op. Then, like Hercules, the leader of this cooperative provided me with everything, including a signed statement from the Naryn city mayor, providing them a rent free establishment for ten years, provided they made some repairs to the building.

“With your help,” they said, “we can afford to renovate the building. Your machines will allow us to make enough money to cover these costs. “

But it wasn’t only their vibrancy that attracted me. It was also the business itself. Tunduk Uz doesn’t make clothes for export, not yet. They make winter clothes. What’s special about these clothes, however, is that they are lined with locally made felt.

“We have connections with many local herders,” they told me, “they trade us many kilos of wool for felt to repair their yurts. We keep the wool, make it into felt, and then sew it into our clothes.” The bulk of their operation is locally sourced, and, for now, locally consumed.

“I have a dream,” the leader, Zeinesh said to me early on, “I want to make clothes for Naryn, for Bishkek, and one day, for the world.” Thanks to our help and their determination, one day her dream could be reality.