Every line of the pattern, every stitch stained with the colors of time on the brocade fabrics of the ethnic minorities, is no longer confined to the space of stilt houses or traditional costumes only seen during festivals and holidays. With the passion, creativity, and innovative thinking of those who love Son La's culture, brocade is being "given life" to become unique products and tourist gifts, preserving its beauty and promoting its value in modern life.
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Singer Hoa Minzy in a creative outfit made from Mong ethnic brocade at the first Son La International Brocade Festival - 2026.
Photo by PV
Entering the colorful workspace of Ms. Nguyen Vu Hoai in To Hieu ward, the first impression is the exquisitely crafted handbags, scarves, and fashion items featuring traditional brocade patterns. As an official working in the Culture, Sports, and Tourism sector, Ms. Hoai has had many opportunities to visit remote villages, witnessing the timeless beauty of brocade weaving and the patience and meticulousness of its creators. This passion fueled her desire to bring brocade beyond the boundaries of her villages. She diligently created hand-embroidered brocade products as gifts for like-minded individuals and tourists. Recently, at the Son La Tourism Gift Competition 2026, her 2-in-1 bag/wallet product won an encouragement award and was highly praised by the judges for its practical application.
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Ms. Nguyen Vu Hoai introduces products made from brocade fabric.
Ms. Hoai shared: "The brocade of the Son La people is very beautiful. I have combined brocade with modern materials such as leather and fabric to create souvenirs, such as scarves, wallets, bags, laptop cases... I believe that each small gift contains a whole cultural story, helping tourists feel the unique charm of the Son La mountains and forests every time they hold it in their hands."
Sharing the same passion, Trang Thi Du, a young Mong woman from Hua Tat village, Van Ho commune, chose to "breathe life" into brocade through her daily life and community tourism at her family's Hua Tat Hmong Retreat homestay. Diligently working by the fire, skillfully using beeswax to draw patterns on indigo-dyed fabric, and meticulously embroidering each stitch, Ms. Du not only preserves the traditional craft but also transforms the homestay into an attractive experience for tourists. Recently, the brocade fabric she and other women in the village made was chosen by a designer to create a unique performance costume for singer Hoa Minzy at the first Son La International Brocade Festival in 2026.
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Ms. Nguyen Vu Hoai has a passion for creating designs using brocade fabrics.
Ms. Du said: "Seeing the brocade fabric of my ethnic group displayed magnificently on the big stage and received by a large audience, I was deeply moved. This gives young brocade makers more confidence that ethnic culture, if modernized, can always have lasting vitality in the modern era."
Beyond individual creations, brocade fabrics are being creatively used by many businesses, cooperatives, and community tourism destinations in the province to decorate and create spaces imbued with ethnic identity at accommodation establishments, restaurants, or to develop cultural experience services such as beeswax painting, indigo dyeing, weaving, and embroidery. Tourists can find these at the Northwest Cultural Space (often called the Moc Chau Night Market - Pedestrian Street), the agricultural and cultural product exhibition area at the Dai Yem Waterfall Ecotourism Area, the Thai cultural experience space at the Bon Village Community Tourism Cooperative (Muong Chien commune), the Nam Nghep Cooperative (Ngoc Chien commune), and the Hoang Long Brocade Craft Village Cooperative (Moc Son ward)...
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Ms. Trang Thi Du, from Hua Tat village, Van Ho commune, creates patterns using beeswax.
Photo: Provided by the subject
Ms. Luong Thi Loat, Director of Hoang Long Brocade Craft Village Cooperative, shared: The cooperative currently has 20 members, who both run homestays and grow cotton, weave fabric, and produce ethnic brocade and brocade products such as scarves, bags, wallets, blankets, pillows, and Thai mattresses... Each year, the cooperative produces 600-700 brocade products, selling them to tourists and displaying them at tourism fairs and seminars.
The synergy stemming from the widespread impact of the first Son La International Brocade Festival - 2026, along with the enthusiasm of the community and timely policy guidance, has been "breathing new life" into brocade, helping to preserve the essence of traditional culture and develop it into an attractive product for Son La tourism.
Doan Tu