Pili Luna, the Honduran woman who makes garments with fish skins

The skin of fish in poor communities in the Honduran Caribbean, which many fishermen discard and throw into the sea, where they rot and pollute the environment, is becoming the raw material that Honduran businesswoman Pili Luna used to make garments such as shoes and handbags.

"Our raw material comes from all the by-products of sustainable artisanal fishing, now we are operating in Kaukira and Barra Plátano (department of Gracias a Dios) and Puerto Cortés (Cortés), Luna told Efe when explaining how he began to promote his new project, in April 2021, in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic.

He added that the artisanal fishermen he is working with previously discarded the skin from fish fillets for export and generally threw it away, while others used it as "bait" to catch lobster.

The idea of ​​making the most of fish skin, of various species, came to Pili during a visit to Kaukira, where she came as a guest, but to promote another craft project that has nothing to do with fishing.

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The small businesswoman says that the project with fish skins, with which she also makes cushions, sashes, bags and upholstery work, among others, was born "out of curiosity and a desire with the intention of transforming a material that benefits to an entire community, without polluting the environment".

Its offer in the local market Pili is extending it to designers, artists, architects and other sectors that use leather for their work.

So that the world knows what he is doing in Honduras with a resource from the sea, Pili indicated that this Sunday he will travel to New York to participate in the Lineapelle Exhibition, which will be held on the 26th and 27th at the Metropolitan Pavilion of that American city.

"This is the most important leather fair in the world, to which we are only taking the raw material, because the more leather we sell, the more the coastal fishing communities benefit," emphasized Pili, a native of Tegucigalpa, from Spanish descent.

Pili has made an alliance with a network of fishermen in the Honduran Caribbean, with Nordic funds, and his project will also take him to Costa Rica, where on February 15 he will set up the first fish skin tanning plant, with fishermen from that country so that they begin to earn another economic income.

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In addition, in the near future he plans to take his fur project to Spain.

LIGHT AND RESISTANT FISH SKIN

The businesswoman pointed out that making use of fish skin represents a double income for fishermen, because they are no longer just selling the meat.

With two products in one, "the lives of many people" in the coastal regions are being changed, stressed Pili, who is the mother of three children and studied in Boston (USA).

At first glance, fish skin seems to be fragile and can break easily, but it turns out that it is the opposite, it is more resistant than bovine leather, a product that is also heavier, indicated the businesswoman while showing in his small workshop in the historic center of the Honduran capital various pieces, mostly of the "róbalo" species.

The pieces of fish tanned by the entrepreneur from the Central American country can be the natural color or the color that the client prefers.

Pili said that globally 3.1 million tons of fish skin are thrown into the sea each year and that this causes ocean acidification and environmental pollution.

In addition, he emphasized that fish skin "is noble, a flexible material, nine times more resistant than bovine leather, it weighs less and we are producing something sustainable, not only with the environment and the material, but also with the part social".

The use of fish skin is not new, it dates back to 200 or 300 years before Christ, when it was used as footwear or coats, Pili said, who defines his new product as "exotic, luxurious, resistant, innovative, that benefits the coastal regions", and she, as someone who dedicates herself "to transforming, creating new materials, a creative businesswoman. I am a bit of all of that".