Leonides Miguel is a Pohnpeian seamstress whose main source of income depends on designing urohs, or embroidered skirts.
She first draws the design on paper and then transfers it to black fabric before meticulously sewing the colorful motifs of Micronesia onto the skirt. Depending on the design, the process can take two days — and the average cost can reach upwards of $100.
However, manufacturers in Pakistan have started using industrial sewing machines to mass produce the skirts, selling them for as little as $20. Pohnpeian artists say the manufacturers have contacted them on social media to try and take their designs.
Miguel said she saw some of her designs taken from her Pohnpei shop, which she started in 2017, by a Pakistan-based manufacturer.
"Those people who are copying my designs and selling them cheaper than the amount I'm selling are making me feel sad about it," she said.
Origin of urohs
Urohs are an integral part of Pohnpei's culture. Although the skirts are distinctive to the island, they are worn throughout the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and by Micronesians in the U.S. diaspora.
The loosely fitted skirts are often gifted and worn daily or for special occasions like feasts or funerals. They've also become a fashion statement, incorporating designs of the flower crown, sakau (kava), floral patterns and other motifs.
Production of the garments supports the livelihoods of Pohnpeian women and is one of the Pacific country's economic drivers, according to McGarry Miguel, the vice speaker of the Pohnpei Legislature.
"It's very popular," he said. "Tourists or domestic visitors will always look for the skirts, especially women or husbands."
FSM has already made it illegal in its country to duplicate local products such as custom-designed handcrafts and the urohs, although Miguel said implementing the law is underway.
"We are trying to urge them (FSM National Congress) and seek ways that we can work together to prohibit something that people cannot duplicate," he said.
However, that doesn't stop manufacturers in Pakistan from selling in the continental U.S., Hawaiʻi and Guam.
Made in Pakistan
Many Pohnpeian seamstresses fear their designs are being appropriated by other Micronesians working with manufacturers in Pakistan.
"I've seen it on social media," said Emelihter Kihleng, a Micronesian poet who wrote her thesis on the poetic ethnography of urohs.
She said her cousin showed her a video of a Pohnpeian woman selling knockoff skirts and raffling them online.
"In Pohnpei, you don't see that, but in the states, you do," Kihleng said. "Some women buy them because they are more affordable, but they're not thinking about the impact it will have on whose livelihoods are attached to these skirts."
The issue of Pakistani manufacturers producing and exporting urohs has surfaced in the last two years. But Kihleng said the problem goes back to the early 2000s when people in the Philippines mass-produced the skirts.
She said she was given the copied skirts from the Philippines and wore them around her house until the threads started coming apart.
"It didn't last very long," she said, adding that the material fell apart after washing it a few times.
She said there's a difference between the urohs made by Pohnpeian women and manufacturers in Pakistan. One example is that the Pohnpei-made urohs have an elastic waist, compared with the Pakistan-made skirts, which have shoelaces at the waist.
Kihleng said she refuses to buy or own a skirt from Pakistan.
"We need to actively not support that business because we don't want it taking over, and it already is," she said.
Modernization of urohs
Urohs have evolved in the last several decades. They were originally the undergarment of the mumu dress. Then Pohnpeian seamstresses took the undergarment and embroidered designs relating to their island heritage.
Kihleng said urohs became popular among most Pohnpeian women in the 1970s and 1980s. Specific designs incorporated into the embroidery include hibiscus, pineapple, candles, breadfruit, the cup of the sakau, mermaids and more.
She said the skirt has become a contemporary art form for Pohnpeian women.
Some manufacturers have even messaged Kosraen fashion designer Meeyoung Kim-Tawerilmal, who showcased her clothes during the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture in Hawai'i last month. Her work was widely shared on social media, which she said may have caught the manufacturers' interest.
"I just said I'm not interested in the Pakistani work," she said. "The bottom line is that I try to support local handmade designs, whether in the U.S. diaspora or Pohnpei."
"It's really coming from us — the people — because we let that happen," she said. "It's easier to do side money, get money or make money online."
Kim-Tawerilmal started designing clothes last year. She incorporates modern clothes into the urohs, such as rompers and dresses. She works with a handful of seamstresses in the U.S. and Pohnpei.
However, the issue of Micronesians purchasing and selling Pakistan-made urohs is complicated. While there are more than 200 seamstresses in Pohnpei, Kim-Tawerilmal said she knows less than 10 in the diaspora.
"It makes me sad because in 20 or 30 years from now, are we still going to have seamstresses?" she said. "Because if we're supporting these foreign countries making these urohs, then are we going to lose that cultural identity that we, Pohnpeian and Micronesian women, have?"
Many Micronesians are urging others to support local Pohnpeian seamstresses who are making skirts and raising awareness of the issue.
But Kihleng said more needs to be done.
"I feel like there needs to be a campaign of different women coming out and speaking against the purchase of those skirts," she said. "Because if we just boycott them, then that could be effective. But we really shouldn't have our own people selling them and purchasing them."
