"This Onésimus Classic full-open Formal Barong is accentuated with abstract embroidery and special buttons.
-Fabric : Piña Silk
-Fit : Slim
-Collar : Regular"
The Piña Silk fabric is a hand-woven fabric blend made of 50% Philippine pineapple leaf fiber and 50% Philippine Silk. This makes it less expensive than Pure Piña.
Piña Silk looks as elegant and almost indistinguishable from Pure Piña as both yarns are off-white, superfine, and takes as much delicate and labor-intensive process to make.
Piña (lit. “Pineapple” in English) is a soft, delicate fabric consistently described by local and foreign textile experts as a product of great beauty and value. Yet, most people do not know how unbelievably tedious the centuries-old process is before local weavers could produce even a yard of this exotic fabric produced only in the Philippines.
Harvested from a special Philippine variety of the pineapple plant, the long leaves are meticulously scraped by hand to reveal the inner fibers. These thinner-than-hair strands are soaked, washed, dried and then tied by the ends one by one. Only then is the basic material made available to highly experienced weavers who make use of traditional handlooms.
When this narrow fabric has been woven, it travels by land and sea to another province where another select group of hand embroiderers spin their dexterous hands to create intricate embroideries for which the Philippines very own Barong Tagalog has become world famous.
In all, except for the use of sewing machine to turn this fabric into apparel, everything about the Piña Barong is 100% hand-made in the truest meaning of the word.
More than a piece of clothing, Piña Barong is a work of art.
