In Mexico and Peru, embroidery is much more than a decorative art: it is living heritage, passed down from generation to generation by women who, with each stitch, preserve the history, beliefs, and identity of their communities. However, these techniques are threatened by industrial reproduction, and the lack of official recognition. 

In 2025, UNESCO, through its offices in Mexico and Peru, organized the 2025 Binational Textile Art Encounter at the Lima Museum of Art and the Museum of Ethnic Clothing of Mexico in Valladolid. This unique gathering brought together 24 Mexican embroiderers from the state of Yucatán and 63 Peruvian artisans, all of whom are beneficiaries of UNESCO cultural projects that support their work. Their mission: share their techniques, discuss their economic realities, business strategies, and innovations, and collectively weave pathways for a more sustainable and equitable future. This is done by valuing immaterial cultural heritage, reinforcing gender equality, and improving the socio-economic conditions of the women artisans. 

In a region where textile art is both a living memory and an economic force, UNESCO works together with artisans to preserve their ancestral knowledge at risk of disappearing, reinforcing, at the same time, the autonomy of women and social ties.

Launched in 2023 with the Banorte Foundation and the Department of Culture in Yucatán, the “Economic and Social Development through Textile Art with a Gender Perspective” project supports more than 350 embroiderers from 26 communities in Mexico. The initiative provides training in management, finance, and the safeguarding of textile heritage, while also promoting gender equality. 

In Peru, the “Segundo Vuelo” (Second flight) initiative, in process since 2018 with LATAM Airlines, transforms old uniforms into artisanal products. To date, the project has diverted 30,000 garments and 6.4 tons of materials from landfills. This module of the circular economy, which has generated more than US$115,000 in income and has facilitated the sale of 15,000 items, empowers artisans from the regions of Cajamarca, Ayacucho, and Lima.  

In both Mexico and Peru, the artisans highlighted the challenges facing the unfair competition from the industrial sector. Mass production offers low-cost clothing of inferior quality, threatening both the income and recognition of artisanal work.

In response to this reality, the artisans expressed that reconnecting with the value of their work and of the heritage that they conserve has reinforced their capacity to move toward greater trade equity and fairer competition. UNESCO supports this with a renewed vision of the relationship between tradition, innovation, and creativity.

The gathering, organized by UNESCO, was also a space where traditional artists identified the similarities and specificities of their techniques, such as embroidery stitches, and they recognized the collective work as a meaningful transformation tool, particularly to safeguarding ancestral knowledge, preserved and transmitted by women.