Empowering Antiqueña Weavers with Twelve Topaz

Izza Arnaez grew up in the province of Antique and was exposed to social inequalities experienced by Antiqueñas at such a young age.

Twelve Topaz is not Izza’s first stint at entrepreneurship.

“Ever since I was a kid I am really passionate about selling things. I started different businesses like handmade bracelets, reselling of bags, and even selling wedding giveaways but juggling it with school then made me inconsistent and out of focus thus it failed. Of course, that didn’t stop me from creating and testing out different business concepts. Even with the lack of cash flow,  I just went for it and tried.” says Izza. 

Despite failures in her past businesses, this didn’t stop Izza from trying.

Izza says, “I have learned that I don’t just want to be an entrepreneur- I want to be a Social entrepreneur. Using my privilege to help, I found my advocacy and mission of trying to look for ways to improve the income of the Antique Weavers community.” 

Twelve Topaz started with a mission to help.

Izza’s family wanted to celebrate Christmas in Antique last 2019. Knowing very well the living conditions in Antique, her family arranged for a donation drive for kids in her Lola’s hometown in Antique. 

“Apart from the donation drive, I thought of selling banig bags to also help out in raising funds. I was shocked how they also like the banig bags. Thus, I continued to sell my banig bags as a passion project and transitioned into a social enterprise to be able to help Antiqueña weavers and help save a slowly dying tradition last 2021.” says Izza. 

Since then Izza began Twelve Topaz, a social enterprise that co-creates everyday banig and accessories that empower and champion Weavers from the Province of Antique, Philippines to help eradicate poverty and save a weaving tradition. She was able to get the name Twelve Topaz from her home street address in Antique which is exactly called Twelve Topaz in honor of everyone from the province raising her from when she was a kid. 

“I wanted to name the brand something close to home. I wanted to somehow tell the story of an Antiqueña that champions and empowers Antiqueña through its brand name. Then it came to me that in our home, I was raised by everyone from the province of Antique.” she shares. 

“Working with the community of weavers, especially Salvacion Surrilla, and helping them save banig weaving in our province.  Re-introducing banig made in Antique to a new generation makes it also fulfilling as  I get to share a part of my childhood to the world whilst saving the slowly dying tradition.” according to Izza. 

Libertad is the northernmost part of Antique, Philippines and it has pioneered banig weaving in the province which is one of the major means of livelihood of the townsfolk. Banig weaving is a genuine treasure handed down as a tradition from one generation to another. Some weavers have even been doing this for 54 years.

However, the banig weaving tradition is considered to be “slowly dying” as there are only aging weavers and there are no current programs or training that let the youth learn this craft.

Most weavers depend on only one livelihood or means of survival and these Antiqueña rely almost exclusively on product orders to survive. A significant decrease in sales is seen over the years due to a lack of support, advanced training, and skills enhancement given that there are lots of competitors currently in the market. Not to mention how Covid-19 exposed their financial vulnerability when they could not work.

Despite the difficulties of tough competition and the rise of cheaper alternatives such as plastic mats, Izza and Twelve Topaz push through with their purpose of empowerment, saving a tradition, and lifting themselves out of poverty.

Twelve Topaz also plants Abaca, a vital crop to the Philippine economy, for each purchase of their product.

Products from Twelve Topaz are available for purchase on Instagram on Facebook.