Skirts
Buy and sell skirts in Guatemala.
In much of the highlands the everyday skirt is never bought by size: the traditional Maya skirt is a length of loom-woven cloth, wrapped at the hips, held with a woven sash and priced by its length. Alongside it sit the pleated, A-line and pencil skirts from the mall, new with tags or pre-owned after a change of size or job. A handwoven skirt shows its quality in the thread and the weave, a shop skirt in its waistband, so ask for close photos of exactly those before you agree to meet.
How a skirt holds its shape:
the cut matters more than the length. A pencil skirt runs straight from hip to knee and needs a back slit to walk in. An A-line widens from the waist and is the easiest to get right, because only the waistband has to match you. Box-pleated and accordion-pleated skirts hang from folds stitched into the band. A shop-bought wrap skirt ties at the side, so it forgives a size either way. A denim mini ages like a pair of jeans, and a skirt sewn to a bodice belongs with dresses.
The Maya wrap skirt, sold by the length:
it has no size because it is never tailored. It is foot-loom cloth, often two panels joined by a decorative embroidered seam, wrapped around the hips and held at the waist by a separate woven sash, with the spare cloth folded or gathered under it. Salcajá is known for ikat, threads tied and dyed before weaving so the pattern comes out soft-edged; Chichicastenango and Nahualá for deep indigo skirts with a wide embroidered join. The skirt is worn with a huipil, and those are under tops.
The thread and the price of a handwoven skirt:
a full length from a weaving workshop, close to seven metres of cloth, runs about Q800 to Q1,000, standard thread at the lower end and finer, glossier thread at the top. A mall-label skirt mostly sits between Q250 and Q400 new and loses much of that the first time it is worn. A handwoven one holds up far better second-hand: with no size to match, a full length suits any buyer, and even a faded one is wanted as cloth for bags and cushions. One that has been cut down only wraps a slimmer waist, and its price should drop with it.
Where a worn skirt gives out first:
at the waistband. Check the hook above the zip and the seam where the band meets the skirt, where a fitted waist pulls hardest. Stretch an elastic waist and let go; if it stays rippled or crackles, the rubber has perished. Polyester pleats are heat-set and survive a wash; cotton and viscose pleats need pressing every time, so limp pleats in the photo mean limp pleats on you. Faux leather is a polyurethane coat that flakes with age even when barely worn; pinch it along the seams for cracks.
A used handwoven skirt, opened out end to end:
unfold the whole length first. Woven ikat carries its pattern in the thread, so it reads on both faces; skirts printed onto synthetic thread show a paler reverse. A printed one is a fair buy if it is priced and described as printed. Check the embroidered join for broken stitches and the edges where the sash rubs, then measure the length to be sure it has not been cut down. Some black ikat is dyed to bleed through its first washes and settle to a deep blue while the white stays white, and weavers charge more for it, so a skirt gone blue-black has not been ruined.
A skirt laid flat and a woven length spread out for the photos:
measure a shop skirt’s waist straight across and double it, give the hip, length and label size, and photograph the inside of the waistband. For a handwoven skirt, give the length, the thread and where it was woven if you know, show the cloth spread out with the embroidered join and the reverse in view, and say plainly if it has been shortened or is printed. A buyer coming from Huehuetenango for one will ask whether the sash goes with it, because finding one that suits the cloth is a second errand.