RESEARCH DATA:

This abaca textile from the collection is a pair of Bagobo trousers for men, commonly referred to as the saroar or sawal. Compared to other Bagobo trousers in the collection, this garment does not feature appliqué or beadwork embellishments. Instead, it is characterized by a finely crafted resist-dye design composed of continuous, diamond-like forms that become more apparent when viewed from a distance, along with minimal stripes that separate the bands of these diamond-like patterns.
Aside from the ikat technique in Mindanao textile traditions, there are two other resist-dye techniques crafted in the region: the pelangi/plangi and the tritik (Hamilton, 1998). According to Hamilton (1998), the pelangi, or plangi, refers to the resist-dye technique of the Bagobo, which he described as their specialty. In plangi, circular motifs are produced on fabrics, commonly found on Bagobo tangkulo headscarves and tinangkulo garments. On this textile from the collection, however, the resist-dye technique present is tritik rather than plangi, which, according to Hamilton (1998), is the specialty of the Kulaman indigenous group. Reyes (1992) also noted that the tritik is a resist-dye technique only employed by the Blaan and the Kulaman. She defined the tritik as a resist-dye technique that requires “oversewing the cloth before dyeing, and then the threads were removed, leaving the white designs” (Reyes, 1992, p. 109).
The resist-dye design on this garment from the collection is comparable to tritik-finished textiles, given the exceptionally fine details of the resisted portions, which are quite impossible to achieve through the other resist-dye techniques mentioned earlier. Despite being a Bagobo textile, the design of this garment is reminiscent of the tritik of the Kulaman or Blaan, which can occur because of the trade between these groups and other neighboring groups in the region. Hamilton (1998) noted that, despite being specialties of specific groups, the fabrics produced using the tritik technique were “routinely traded from one group to another” (p. 25). Hamilton (1998) explained that there were reported instances in which tritik garments, made by Kulaman experts, were traded to and obtained by the Bagobo.