Economics
 | 11-11-2014 | 11:17:30

Retrieving the wool land

 

Dong Hoa quarter in Di An town used to be known as a land of knitting wool, which was a livelihood as well as a pride of local people. But now wool knitting in here is in danger of being eroded.

An echo time

Nobody knows exactly since when wool knitting or wool processing at Dong Hoa quarter appeared. Wool knitting has come into sight in Binh Duong province for a long long time than any other traditional crafts like pottery, lacquer. This craft was initiated by northern migrants in Binh Duong and then gradually formed a village in Tan Quy quarter.

Ms. Pham Thi Huong was finishing wool hats.

 
Prior 2007, wool knitting here was considered in its golden age. “At that time, all households, people here knitted wool. We had to knit all day but still did not have enough products to provide for dealers”, said Ms. Pham Thi Huong, who is 58 years old and living at Dong Hoa quarter. In the past, her shop had 9,10 employees, produced about 3,000 wool caps per day, and all were sold out. Wool products of Tan Quy quarter were even exported to Cambodia. Wool knitting helped many households to improve their life.

Retrieving the one-time wool village

At the present, Tan Quy quarter has 430 households, but there are only 50 households knitting wool. “It is so sad, because many people quit this job to work for industrial parks to have stable and higher income. Some persons once dedicating to this craft also change to other jobs”, said Ms. Phan Thi Kim Dung.Ms. Huong’s shop now produces daily only nearly 200 caps.

Mr. Luu Van Xuan, who is 62 years old and has attracted to this job over a half century in Tan Quy quarter, said: “We are in a fierce competition with foreign products. Although we usually update fashion trends, our wool products are rejected by some dealers”.

Each wool product is made by the heart and passion of craftsman. This job has soaked into their blood. Some persons quitted this job unwillingly because of unstable output. Dong Hoa ward People’s Committee’s Chairwoman Vo Thi My Ha said: “The reason is that wool knitting does not have high profitability any more. Local government has encouraged people to maintain this job, given financial support but not many households responded positively”.

In fact, wool knitting in Dong Hoa has been conducted spontaneously, lacked in connection and collaboration to search for a stable consuming market. If there is a right direction, Dong Hoa wool knitting would be able to constitute its position and develop local economy.

Reported by H.Thuy – Translated by Ngoc Huynh

 

 

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traditional handcraftwool knittingDong Hoa
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