BCTA MEMBERSHIP STATUS
Active

SECTOR
Consumer Goods

HEADQUARTERS
Japan

REGION OF INITIATIVE
Asia & Pacific

SDG CONTRIBUTION

RELATED NEWS

The Impact Goal

Sulci joined Business Call to Action in March 2019 with a commitment to provide new skills and reliable incomes to working mothers in the Philippines by teaching crocheting and providing 100 jobs to women living in Cebu Island by 2020.

In 2021, Sulci renewed its membership with a commitment to retain 100 skilled crocheters by providing Philippine women and female inmates with continuous crocheting training by 2024.

The Market Gap

The biggest gap is that local craftsmen spend their time making things, and the most of things are sold cheaply, ignoring their skills and the difficulty of making them. For example, weaving requires skill, and it takes a lot of time to weave a 1-meter fabric. Although, it is sold very cheaply at souvenir shops in the Philippines.

When Ms. Sekiya went to Cebu before starting Sulci, she saw a souvenir shop selling basket bags woven from natural materials at very low prices. Even though craftsmen need skill and time to make things, they don’t get fair wages so she wanted to do something about it.

One of the reasons started Sulci was that as many people as possible learn crochet skills and get fair wages to work with pride.

 The Business Solution

In the spirit of Fairtrade, Sulci provides women in the Philippines with job opportunities and helps them improve their lives and become self-reliant by paying a fair wage. Sulci’s bags are carefully crocheted from naturally grown local palm-leaf fibre, raffia, using a single crochet hook. As crocheting requires little in terms of equipment, the financial outlay for women to take up this profession is low, while the flexible nature of the skill means they can either work from the workshop or from home, and adapt it to fit their lifestyles, working as much or as little as they like. In addition, as the fibres are natural, they are more environmentally friendly than synthetic materials such as plastic. Sulci aims to open a way for Philippine women to increase their financial independence by mastering a skill that can be performed anywhere, with only basic materials and equipment.

About Sulci Inc.: Sulci Inc. which means “hand crafted” in old Cebuano language, is a Japanese bag manufacturer. With operations located in Carcac, Cebu, Philippines, the company contracts low-income local women and female inmates to train them in crocheting and popularize the city as a source of quality, handcrafted bags.