“We want to raise awareness about the importance of supporting and appreciating what is made in Argentina”With these words, a group of textile workers presented the overalls from their “Arsat” capsule, a collection that for them represents a tribute to the work of a national, quality company.
The company was created by the national government in 2006 to provide satellite solutions. Through the Arsat I and II satellitesprovides telecommunications services from the Canadian tundra to the Antarctic Peninsula and the Falkland Islands, thereby generating technological sovereignty.
Chiara La Rosa is 25 years old and studies Visual Design at the National University of Río Negro (UNRN). He is a member of the cooperative and within the association, he works in the cutting production, social media and sales sectors, as well as managing the website.
“You always see someone on the street wearing a NASA t-shirt; “But we would like it to be something ours, from here,” Chiara told Diario RIO NEGRO. She acknowledged that there are Argentines who do not know what Arsat is and what it means for the country. “Thanks to these satellites we have fiber optics,” said the young woman. And this is crucial to improve internet coverage in Argentina.
The The work cooperative is called “Septiembre” and brings together eleven members between the ages of 25 and 67, covering a wide range of ages and profiles, all united by the same objective: the dignity of work and the development of economic autonomy. It is an open, plural, inclusive space.
“Our cooperative and our work define us. We have very good quality of clothing, and a work environment of camaraderie, a space of solidarity.”
Chiara La Rosa, representative of the September textile cooperative.
It all started in 2008 when Marcela, the president, who had her own workshop, decided to open the doors to a collective project. Thus, she ended up converting it to become a cooperative with the help of other women. Finally, after some administrative work, in 2009 they obtained the registration and formalized their legal status.
“Our strength has always been graduate jackets or work for companies, but starting in 2020, when the pandemic hit, all of that came to a standstill, “So we had to resort to other resources. That’s when we started selling online, we added the website, we started selling quilts with the scraps of fleece we had left over from the graduates,” Chiara said.
So They started making squares and quilting, and with that they were able to get out of the pandemic. “The online sales tool This is what continues to help us grow, because they all know how to sew, they can all produce a lot, they are super agile and very neat, but what is most difficult is always the sale,” acknowledged the young woman.
Do urban clothing from size XS to XXXXL, from 0 to 8. Sweatshirts, overalls, jackets. Now, with the divers, they plan to allocate part of the proceeds to the community partner space “Building Smiles” in the Los Hornos de Roca neighborhoods, where a dining room operates. In it Flag Day, June 20, they launched the pre-sale in tribute to Manuel Belgrano. The divers are sold through the website and there is a special pre-sale price.
If it is not sold, there is no charge, It is the life of any entrepreneur. Everything they do is self-managed. “We have done networking workshops, sales training, it is a good tool that we have,” he summarized.
Cloth wipes
In it Recently they also added a new product that they have been able to perfect from experience: Cloth wipes for menstrual hygiene, made with cotton and chemical-free, without treatments, with supplies that they buy from a cooperative in Chaco.
«Since it doesn’t have chemical treatments, it’s not abrasive for us, and it’s ecological», said the reference. These wipes became known after the municipality of Neuquén acquired them for a project in the Women’s area.
The clients The most faithful of the products that September makes are women of the feminist movement. As a cooperative, they have participated for years in the Women’s Meetings that circulate throughout the country. “We feel like it’s our space,” she said.
Rising from the foundations
In In 2013, four years after having established themselves, the women of the cooperative lost everything.. It was after a fire that hit his workshop, his facilities in Cipolletti.
“It was a moment of turning point, we had to decide whether to continue or close the cooperative. The companions at that time, who after all that only remained two or three, wanted to continue, and they put all their effort into making it emerge again,” Chiara said, eleven years after that event. Little by little, they started on the right path.
Although so far they are all women, In a short time a man would join. “The textile industry has always been the work of women, historically, but that has been deconstructed. But it is always the woman who maintains all this work.
Chiara raised the importance of recognizing the textile industry as a legal job. “There are still many clandestine workshops, especially in Buenos Aires, and there have to be conditions decent work, because this is a job,” he said.
The next step for the cooperative is move to Roca, where they got a more affordable rent at the bus terminal to set up their premises and begin a new stage, after more than 15 years of experience.
