The Mexican Yoga Blankets

The blankets from Mexico are the main blankets used in the yoga would today
These blanket are made of Acrylic, Polyester and a small amount of cotton
About twenty years ago blanket made in Mexico were hand made, but with the higher demands from tourist and the American market the process had to change to keep up.
Today Mexico exports about twenty thousand Falsa blanket to the United States alone each month, this does not include the other blankets like the Diamond, Thunder Bird the soft thick blanket Sarapes blankets and Falsa blankets being shipped all over the world.
There are a few blankets like the Sarape and Specialty blankets that are still hand made but are now being automated as well.

Materials Used to Produce Blankets:

Today 99% of Mexican blankets are made with recycled materials; these are clean new materials from the garment and textile industries.
Materials are delivered in large bundles just like the recycled cardboard boxes; the bundles are sorted in to colors, once this is done they are put though a process three different times to basically shred the material back to an original fiber about an inch and a half in size.
The fiber is then ready to be spun back in to a rough yarn. The yarn is now re-spun in to a yarn that can be weaved in to the blankets you now see.

Falsa weaving machine

On the left the fibers are spun into rough yarn

This is a twenty four seven day a week process.

This building is the size of a football field

It take just over fifteen minutes to weave a blanket and about five minutes for a person to hand tie the tassles. Upper left, is a plastic ribbon that is uesd to create the pattern, this is changed to make different patterns and styles

This loom is hand made from scrap lumber. The man running this loom is 79 years old, notice the bear feet. he told us that to make a perfect Sarape you need to feel the machine. A large Sarape will take a well trained tradesmen about 4 to 5 hours (depending on the pattern and colors used) to weave a Sarape. Sarapes are one of just few Blankets Still hand made.