Souls, Sales, Slippers: The story behind a pair of shoes from Liliw

Bianca Ysabel Rabe

The town afoot Mount Banahaw that thrives on the industry of footwear –
Liliw, Laguna has made its mark on the maps with the production of slippers and
shoes alike. Taking pride with their low price, high quality merchandise, Larry
Carriedo narrates the nitty-gritty underneath every suelas.

One Town, One Product

“Maraming shoe makers sa Marikina [City] ang nagsara,” Mary Mylene Subilit,
Liliw’s head tourism officer, says. “We are so fortunate [to have maintained] Liliw’s
OTOP (one town, one product) status.”
It’s been 87 years since the town started its footwear fling to success.
Casiano Pisueña was the first Liliweño to make a pair of shoes from coconut palms.
Hence, by the decree of a municipal order, he had been named as the Father of the
Tsinelas Industry. Since 1931, Liliw’s slippers eventually evolved to shoes and was
able to maintain the industry.
In fact, the famed Gat Tayaw Tsinelas Festival was only initiated in 2007,
after the town was informed that all municipalities should have a festival to revel. A
city ordinance stated that tsinelas be the subject to be celebrated – and so Gat
Tayaw was, named after the street where the local shoe stores occupy its length.
For two consecutive years, the fiesta had been named as the “Best Festival” in the
municipal level.

‘Masipag ka, malakas ang pera’

Mang Larry, 60, has been making slippers since he was 14 years old. “Hindi
nahina ang trabaho dahil nage-export,” he states. Carriedo could narrate the shoe-
making process like the back of his hand – from the importing of synthetic leather to
the lining, cutting, and sewing of the entrada.
He says in Tagalog, “There are local products included in the making of
slippers. Banig, abaca, and banana leaves among the few. However, the demand for
imported products – synthetic leather – is abundant.”
Ishare Shoes, an international organization, is a partner of Mang Larry’s
workplace. It enables the local shoe stores to export their products to the United
States, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, and even Papua New Guinea. The biggest mold
for suelas are Size 15. “Ang lalaki ng mga paa ng mga taga-Papua New Guinea!” he
laughs.
Four years in the industry allowed him to sustain his family and build a quaint
house in Liliw. Mang Larry decided not to proceed with high school when he began
making shoes – he was earning P50 a day, which was at that time, a great amount
of money. Carriedo says that he was blinded by his ability to give money for
sustenance to his parents at such a young age.
When asked if the income of a shoemaker is enough, he answers, “Nasa
sipag na ng manggagawa iyon.”
In Liliw, the workers are paid per pair they are able to create each day. A
male shoemaker can earn around P2,500 – P4,000 weekly, as per a female
shoemaker’s P1,000 – P3,000 weekly netting. It plays around the industry’s rate of
P5-P10 for every pair, and would be multiplied by the number of shoes they were
able to produce.
There is no discretion in the workplace, Mang Larry assures. He asserts that
the parts of the process that men execute are harder than a woman’s. The
youngest worker in the contemporary for boys is 17 years old and 15 years old for
girls.

‘Maraming sikreto sa paggawa ng tsinelas’

The tsinelas trade is threatened by the new trends: online shopping and
exported products.
Although the municipality was able to complete the “Caravan on Wheels”
project – wherein a truck was transformed into a shop of Liliw merchandise – the
relatively growing craze of ordering your products online and having it delivered to
your doorstep had been Gat Tayaw Street’s current rival.
“You are supposed to enjoy physical shopping [in Liliw],” Subilit replies,
“Online shopping’s harm is when the sellers claim that it is Gawang Liliw, when in
truth, it is not. The false advertisement injurs the reputation of our products.”
Moreso, the large quantity of footwear we import from China are generally
cheaper than the local products. The consumers, wanting to save more money,
would buy the low-priced shoes.
And the raw materials the peddlers need to use to make new shoes get more
expensive every year. Liliw is able to maintain the “low-cost, budget friendly price
through Mang Larry’s words: “Taon-taon nagmamahal ang mga materyales, pero
ganoon pa rin ang labor.”