Over the years, with imported new techniques and tools from Spain, the weavers at Otavalo supplied most of the textiles used throughout South America. The downside of this economic success was that the Otavaleños were sometimes forced to labor at the looms in a system called Obraje. Today the Otavaleños have diversified their techniques with techniques from Scotland, and at Hacienda Zuleta created the Otavaleño cashmere and created a world-wide market for their textile products. You can see some of the techniques in the demonstrations at the Obraje Weaving Museum.
If you have the time, visit the nearby villages of Peguche, San Jose de la Bolsa, Selva Alegre, Cotama, Agato and Iluman villages which are famous for their textiles.