Banig slippers reaches global markets

Banig Slippers by Native Footwears

IN the early centuries, Basey is nothing but swampy-grassy coastal municipality and a famous hideaway of the Pulahanes that fought the invading foreign forces. But today, local residents are proud and chin up that their booming town is making efforts to be recognized in the global map in terms of mat-weaving particularly of handcrafting native materials such as slippers that competes even in the international markets.

The mat industry here in Basey, Samar, Philippines begun in the 1950’s, and from a humble beginning, it grown impressively and gained recognition as one of the country’s best and recommended mat industry.

During the old times, mats, or locally known as “banig” are being used only as floor covering used by the natives to sleep on. But today, “banig” which is made of “tikog” are now used for so many for other purposes, such as for decoration or accessories. Products of “banig,” widely known as “a truly waraynon” product, includes wall mats, slippers, traveling bags, floor mats, wallets, clothes, among other decorations materials.

Among these products, slippers made of tikog banig, are the most common orders by foreign investors and importers of native handicrafts, says Ms. Liezl Ortigosa Bautista, a former tourism employee now engaging into exporting of banig slippers.

“Our foreign contacts want us to ship them banig slippers regularly, as they really loved our kind of craftsmanship made to the native slippers,” Ms. Bautista said.

“Aside from our clients from America, we are still in the process of negotiating to other clients who come from India, China and London. This is aside from our local sellers from the Philippines;” Bautista stressed adding that “slippers especially designed with fashionable materials always became a hit in foreign land.”

Materials used are straw mats, tikog grass

Slippers in Basey town underwent a tedious process before it became a fully attractive item to buyers. The raw material is the tikog, a grass that grows profusely in swampy places. Cut in various and sexy designs dyed it and use combination of colors suitable for the women’s taste as the common users.

This kind of product has been repeatedly featured in magazines, local and national newspapers and even in the international websites of best suppliers and buyers. This also earned a lot of appreciations from buying foreign markets.

Mat-weaving is the primary livelihood in Basey, a little town situated in the southwestern part of the province of Samar. The place is located near the city of Tacloban, the economic center of whole Eastern Visayas region. It is also globally known being home of the famous Sohoton Natural Bridge National Park and the holder of Guinness World Record of the longest mat-weaved or “banig.”

Mat-weaving then has been handed down from generation to generation, each generation introducing innovations the method of weaving, improved little by little and the increasing demand for mats has reached today in the global market.

Most often, mat-makers basically has a border design and a central motif which often is a stylized rendition of flowers such as sampaguita, gumamela, rose, or some orchid. Most of the time, the motif is always done in a contrasting color or just plain natural tikog color. The more complicated ones come in multicolored tones and correspondingly cost more.

Very fashionable and affordable indoor slippers

Once in a while, a mat showing the excellent likeness of a major and highly recognizable public figure, whether local or foreign, would appear. One particular practitioner in the area does this “portrait mat” - a highly specialized artistic skill which is difficult to pass on down the younger generation.
Earlier, the town of Basey has been visited by no less than Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim and vowed to help the town’s premier product – the Mat Industry.

Local officials and residents also help in the marketing of the slippers and other native materials made of tikog banig products. For those interested: you may contact these numbers 0915-2553-917 and e-mail: trexpelunker@yahoo.com or Facebook Page Native Slippers (Tikog Mats) for your inquiries and suggestions.