On a beach in Costa Rica, two women clean fish skins which will then be used to make clothes and jewelry, before perhaps one day ending up on the catwalks of major fashion designers.
Marta Sosa and Mauren Castro embarked on this initiative two years ago in Costa de los Pajaros, a village located about a hundred kilometers from the capital San José, in order to provide an income for their family.
“This skin was thrown into the sea and now it will no longer pollute and will be used to make leather”explains Mauren Castro, 41, to AFP. It will be used to make jewelry, clothing and in the future also bags and shoes, she hopes.
A worker holds a fish skin which will then be used by artisans of the Piel Marina cooperative, in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, September 19, 2024 / Ezequiel BECERRA / AFP
A total of fifteen women are united within the Piel Marina cooperative which is developing the initiative with the support of the NGO MarViva, which trained and financed them.
Around a table set up by the sea, the two women scale sea bass and sea bass skins, while fishermen deliver their catch of the day.
According to the UN, the fashion industry is responsible for 2 to 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 9% of microplastics dumped into the sea.
The women of the cooperative make the jewelry themselves, while textile factories in the Puntarenas region, the country’s main port on the Pacific, make the clothes with the leather they tan.
“The great podiums of Paris”
Fish skins used by artisans of the Piel Marina cooperative in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, September 19, 2024 / Ezequiel BECERRA / AFP
“It’s about giving additional use to what we call waste in another production chain”underlines Sofia Ureña, designer and researcher in biomaterials, to AFP. “The most sustainable clothing is the one that already exists and does not involve the expenditure of new resources”she emphasizes.
Artisanal fishing is one of the economic drivers of the region, although the activity is in decline. The cooperative represents an opportunity for “female emancipation” in a region where women traditionally remain within households, explains Mauren Castro.
It is also a source of income, in a region where one in three adults is unemployed and where 14% of the population lives in poverty, according to official data.
Earrings and key rings made by the artisans of the Piel Marina cooperative, with fish skins, in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, September 19, 2024 / Ezequiel BECERRA / AFP
“At the beginning, we didn’t believe in this challenge, because we said to ourselves: how can skin, which is something smelly and polluting, become a raw material allowing women to get by? »remembers Mauren Castro, previously a housewife, like Marta Sosa.
“We first clean the fabric, then wash it with soap as if we were washing clothes”explains Ms. Sosa. “We dye it with glycerin, alcohol and (natural) dye, then put it to dry”adds the septuagenarian.
The leather is ready after eight days (four for dyeing and four more for drying in the sun). It is soft, elastic, resistant, waterproof and does not smell fishy.
The beach of Costa Pajaros in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, on September 19, 2024 / Alberto PEÑA / AFP
The cooperative’s activity is consolidating and their members’ dream is now to sell their leather abroad. “I would like us to see it in Hollywood, in Canada, on the big catwalks in Paris, where the great (creators) are”said Ms. Castro enthusiastically.
A hope that has a chance of coming true. Global fashion trends are moving towards eco-friendly production, and recycled and natural materials are gaining ground on international catwalks, according to UN studies.