It’s 2025, and Tamay & Me is now 10 years old.
Established in 2015 when Tamay was 40 and Hannah was 30, at a time when shopping online and Instagram meant the world felt smaller than ever, and we were able to send jackets all over the world to customers in Australia, Brazil, the US and across Europe. Conversations about changing consumer habits to buy better and change the world through our choices felt empowering. We were able to connect through storytelling and the sharing of the products that Tamay and I created together. The collection, jackets and accessories, are made by unpicking, literally and metaphorically, old pieces and looking at the patterns and the materials. We retraced the skills needed to create new pieces like old ones. We found and started to work with artisans who still grew cotton and spun and wove it into cloth on a very small scale, as had been created for years but was no longer competing on price alongside cotton from China. We took this cloth to artisans who dyed it with traditional, fresh, fermented indigo and then onto the tailors who have made zero-waste designs of jackets that are ideal for everyday wear. Our embroidered jackets include tiny, silk, hand-plaited trim, cotton applique edging and vintage embroideries.
The intention was to create a collection of products that would take all the best bits of the textiles from the past, respecting the land and the people’s skills who make them, to offer clothing that is both beautiful and does things right.
In honesty, the shop was an experiment, a sort of art project, we wanted to challenge the way business operates and see whether a supply chain-run organisation that cares for each step of production was possible. Our mission so far has been an overall success. We are eternally grateful to our loyal customers and stockists for all the support over these years.
Wow, there have been curve balls. Brexit, Covid, Climate Change, Trump. Every week we face new challenges and changes in the world that are out of our hands. Somehow we have a determination to make Tamay & Me function, in fact, we like to hope that we can thrive in the face of adversity.
This last month Hannah (Me) visited Tamay, the mountains and all the artisans for the first time in 7 years. We been working remotely through video calls for years.
The trip was wet and cold but the welcome was so warm. I took my partner John to meet everyone for the first time, and we have been together for 15 years now.
Mountain life has changed enormously since 2008, when Tamay and Hannah first met in the Sapa market. Then there was just one light bulb in Tamay’s house and no bathroom. Tamay was making her way in the world as a young mum, looking after her 3 and shortly after 4 children. Her mantra was stitch: tiny embroidery that makes you strong. Her nourishment was homegrown food. Tamay couldn’t read or write but she had a phone and was adamant that her kids would go to school and have the opportunities she never had.
Fast forward 17 years! Tamay and her family are a force ! I have seen the steady evolution over the years, but now the kids are all grown up. Honestly, it was pure joy and pride for Tamay. Her values and her determination has created a whole team of smart, healthy, open-minded, loving people. Tamay’s 3 older kids, May Lu, Lao Ta and Lao La, all are married with 2 small children. Including Tamay’s husband, Va and their youngest son Leo, now 15. They are now a big family of 15 people !
Together they still grow most of their own food, planting crops in different fields across the mountainside, traditional seeds and GM crops. The hope is that some will thrive at least. (Last year the weather was extremely wet so growing was tough, and the mountain was unsafe due to landslides.)
May Lu and her husband have great jobs connecting their local community to wider north Vietnam and now own a car. Lao Ta and Lao La’s wives May and Lan run motorbike tours for tourists and are always busy. Tamay is renowned for her textile knowledge and buys and sells fabulous textiles in the market and through her phone. Tamay’ s husband is the last jewellery maker in Taphin village and makes wedding bracelets in silver and brass bracelets to sell. We will share more about this in the future, they are true works of art.
The diversity in the face of adversity, the courage and the strength in numbers was so inspiring to see. Tamay had her 50th birthday on the 19th of March and the love, respect and gratitude for Tamay was phenomenal to witness. It was an immense celebration! Four giant cream cakes, a hot pot dinner for 30 people, party decorations and lots of rice wine.
My place in the family was clear. I am Auntie!
Knowing the them all for so long now, we clung to Google Translate to express our love and gratitude for all the time gone by and the connection.
But how do textiles fit into all of this?
Textiles are their story, it’s the culture in cloth, and it’s the practice of patience and devotion to tradition and the ancestors.
I have the task of continuing to share the work and the culture through cloth and what an honour that is. Tamay and I are a team, we have been a team for years now and are going to continue as a team, sisters. Together we want to share the beautiful textiles of the past and the present for the future.
Although the future is unclear, these textiles have survived 500 years or more so we will do our bit to take them forward.
Our business is perhaps not what you would usually expect of a clothing store but what we offer is a bit more than cloth.
We are proud that the jackets and other textiles that we offer are all made by hand, caring both for the natural world and all the people involved in making and selling them.
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