A textile collective for Eldorado-Diadema, Brazil

At the end of June, the Eldorado Textile Collective held a leaving presentation for Marta, who left to focus on her other interests. Marta brought valuable new skills to the collective, in particular her contribution to the efficient organisation and publicising on social media of the monthly Eldorado Showcase launched in October 2025. As well as giving the collective greater local visibility and sales, the showcase has become a special space where recognition is given to the textile skills of our members.

Fortunately, the void left by Marta’s departure has been filled by the return of Gilvanete after a period of sick leave, and of Higor, a talented teacher who grew up in Eldorado and has been connected with ACER for many years. He learned his tailoring skills from the textiles and fashion course for young people initiated by our first teacher, Carol, and through a local six-month fashion and textiles programme for talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds sponsored by the textile industry.

With Gilvanete and Higor back on the team, the collective took over the organisation of the showcase without Marta. After the showcase events started to show a dip in attendance, the group had decided to change the date to the nearest Saturday after payday, the 5th of the month. Higor put his skills in social media to good use and our members were pleased with how well the 9th showcase event on 12th September went, with new contacts made and orders for garments taken as well as sales made.

Higor, Gilvanete, Dona Ede, and Imaculada succeeded in making and delivering 110 pairs of capoeira trousers for the ACER children in time for their capoeira ‘baptism’, or graduation ceremony, on 30th August. At this happy event, the children received certificates to mark their progress in the art of capoeira, proudly wearing their new capoeira trousers that had cord belts with coloured tassels denoting their level of achievement.

While hand embroidered artisan items generate a large part of the collective’s income, the production and sale of garments is growing in importance. On 25th September, Higor organised a visit for six of our members to the GOTEX show, an international trade fair covering fabrics, home textiles, apparel and tailoring supplies held at the Expo Center Norte in Sao Paulo. This was an exciting new experience for our group, where they could view the latest fabrics, fashions and products and gather ideas and inspiration for the future.