Meeting the craftswomen
Producing differently, with respect for those who make our products
Every pair of N’GO proudly features a unique weave, handcrafted by around forty craftswomen from the provinces of Nghe An, Hoa Binh and Dien Bien, in northern Vietnam.
Organised into cooperatives, they are fully independent and collectively manage their own work. Together they set the price per metre, which gives them prices agreed for the whole community and limits competition among themselves.
Everyone supports my work at the cooperative. There’s a wonderful atmosphere! It gives me a steady income and lets me take care of my family.
The beginning of our collaboration
In 2016, Ronan returned to Vietnam to meet the craftswomen and share the N’GO project with them: creating eco-designed shoes by reinterpreting the traditional ethnic patterns of their minority. For their craftsmanship, they receive fair pay and complete freedom in organising their own work. A fair wage for quality work! The craftswomen embraced the project right away, and the first handmade fabric samples took shape. A beautiful way to support their ancestral handcraft while opening up new prospects for the future.
Each cooperative has its own ancestral technique
At N’GO, we only work with already-established cooperatives to make sure that fabric orders are taken on willingly and collectively.
Our first patterns are drawn directly from the unique culture of each minority.
As our designs have developed, we’ve introduced more geometric patterns, drawn in France and reworked in Vietnam with the help of the craftswomen. By offering them these new shapes to weave, they learn new techniques and broaden their range of skills.
Everyone supports my work at the cooperative. There’s a wonderful atmosphere! It gives me a steady income and lets me take care of my family.
Chị Liên
We involve the craftswomen directly in the development phase of our products.
Every new ethnic pattern added to our collection is carefully chosen together with the craftswomen, and then, jointly, we decide whether it can move on to the sampling stage. After this testing period, the decision to keep a pattern or not has to be approved by everyone.
At N’GO, producing in Vietnam doesn’t mean working far from home, without direct contact with your suppliers. We work with no middlemen, directly with our partners. Until 2019, Ronan lived in Vietnam to be as close as possible to his partners. Since then, they have opened an office in Ho Chi Minh City to continue overseeing and developing the brand on the ground.
Meeting the craftswomen
A face behind every N'GO
51 years old, 2 children
42 years old, 2 children
40 years old, 2 children
30 years old, 2 children
29 years old, 2 children
41 years old, 1 child
50 years old, 2 children
30 years old, 2 children
44 years old, 2 children
44 years old, 1 child
44 years old, 2 children
A day in Chieng Chau, told by Lò Thị Chanh
Lò Thị Chanh is an exceptional 41-year-old weaver we’ve been working with since the very beginnings of N’GO. A mother of two football-loving children, she tells us about her daily life at the cooperative:
“I get up at 6am to look after the children before they head off to school. Every morning we have breakfast together as a family (the famous phở soup)! Then I leave for the cooperative around 7:30am, where I work with the other weavers until 11am. Back home, I cook and eat lunch, and then usually take a nap. Afterwards I return to the cooperative at 2pm to weave until 5pm. I get home at 5:30pm to take care of the housework and then dinner. Evenings end in front of the television, as a family, before I go to bed. I’m very happy to work for N’GO because it lets me balance my time between work and my family.”
N’GO offers a wide variety of products with different weaving techniques. It gives us so much motivation and inspiration, because we learn something new every time.
Chị Dựng