How six women helped India’s weavers earn over Rs 70 lakh in just three months during the pandemic

India’s rich tradition of handlooms is believed to pre-date the Indus Valley Civilisation. The textiles were so well-known across the globe that as far back as 200 BC, the Latin word for cotton was carbasina, was believed to be derived from the Sanskrit word karpasa. Once considered India’s largest manufacturing sector, today, with machine-made alternatives and changing aesthetics, this once thriving industry is struggling to stay afloat. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this situation. 

As per the 4th All India Handloom Census (2019-20), there are 26, 73,891 handloom weavers and 8,48,621 allied workers in the country, but with no sustainable livelihood to be made, those numbers are dwindling.

One ray of hope that has emerged during the pandemic to help revive interest in the handloom sector is the Resource Helpline Bridge for Weavers (Bridge), a collective of six women who are handloom enthusiasts and are bridging the gap between India’s weavers and prospective clients across the world. What’s commendable is that they are driven purely by their love for the craft and are not making any money from this enterprise.

ALSO READ

[Sustainability Agenda] How Baaya Design is creating sustainable livelihoods by bridging the gap between traditional artisans and clients

The Bridge was started by Delhi-based lawyer Talish Ray, who initially started a ‘medical bridge’ to help those looking for oxygen or emergency beds during the peak of the pandemic. 

Volunteering for a cause

“When COVID started, a bunch of us from the law firm got together and started running a medical helpline from our phones without relying on social media. We provided verified information because there was no point in giving 200 numbers to someone who was already struggling to find oxygen or blood,” says Talish. Their efforts got international coverage, which resulted in a lot of people reaching out to Talish and her colleagues asking if they could contribute money to their cause. 

“It got a little conflicting and confusing for me as a lawyer because, one, what would I need money for? We were six lawyers working from our dining tables and using our phones. That’s when one person called and asked what we were doing for India’s craftsmen.” Talish says that while it was not uncommon for people to give advice, this somehow struck a chord. 

“I had done a textile project on textiles for an organisation called Sahapedia, where I was part of the team that developed a Pune cultural map. And the one thing I did to keep my spirits up during lockdown was to wake up, get ready and wear a sari even if I was working from my dining table. So when this person said they would like to give some money to craftsmen, something clicked,” she says.

She reached out to Mushtak Khan, who worked with  Delhi’s Crafts Museum, who confirmed that the industry was floundering during the pandemic.  “He said that many of the weavers he knew were Kabir Award (the National Award equivalent for crafts people) winners. These were weavers who were recognised by the government as being the best in their field, but were now struggling. Mushtaq ji told me that although they had managed to tide over the first wave of the pandemic, a lot of them were now left with dead inventory that they were struggling to sell.”

ALSO READ

This Mumbai-based artist is on a mission to spread social awareness through paintings and is serving slums across India

While Talish was figuring out her next steps, a friend, Meenakshi Vashisth, who is a heritage specialist, reached out and asked if she could volunteer on the medical bridge. She had just recovered from a serious bout of  COVID-19 and Talish thought that speaking to people who were upset  on the phone might affect her recovery. “Meenakshi had also worked on the  Sahapedia project and knew Mushtaq ji. We decided to get the numbers of the Kabir Award winning weavers he knew,” says Talish.

Reaching out

Armed with 20 numbers, Talish and Meenakshi started reaching out to the weavers who were wary about engaging with them. Talish says that this caution arose from the fact that they knew that the work that they sold to a boutique, a designer or an ecommerce store for ‘x’ amount ‘was being sold at 4x in the market’. 

“Out of the 20 weavers we reached out to, only  eight agreed to engage with us (a ninth reached out on social media). We explained to them that we would spread the word about their work and interested people would reach out to them directly, view their available inventory and buy something from them. We took a guarantee from the prospective buyer that they would buy at least one item from the weaver they were interacting with and not haggle, and asked the weaver to honour a first-come, first-serve basis and not enter into a bidding war with the buyers.”  

Explaining the process, Talish says that once they connect the interested buyer with the weaver, the weavers  share images of the inventory via WhatsApp and the buyer makes a selection and initiates a process to complete the sale. 

The Bridge is currently working with two award-winning Banarasi weavers from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh;  a pashmina weaver from Kashmir; a hand block printer from Bagru, Rajasthan; a Maheshwari weaver, a Kota weaver, and a Chanderi weaver from Madhya Pradesh; a Chikankari craftsperson from Uttar Pradesh; a Pochampally weaver from Andhra Pradesh; and a Kanjeevaram weaver from Tamil Nadu. 

Talish and Meenakshi said they would help the weavers with logistical support like contacting couriers, and with getting the money directly to the weavers’ own accounts from the customer. As the interest in connecting with the weavers started increasing, Talish got calls from her friends – Mani Tripathi, a homemaker from Lucknow who was also recovering from COVID-19; Namrata Verma Kaul,  who was quarantining in a Singapore hotel; Shruti Mathur from Melbourne; and Monika Shrivastava, who is based out of Paris–all of whom said they were keen to volunteer their time. 

ALSO READ

[Monday Motivation] How Lehro Devi went from renouncing married life to inspiring thousands of women to be self-sufficient

Exponential interest

Since its inception on May 10, 2021, the Bridge has garnered over Rs 70 lakh in revenue for the weavers, with a target of Rs 1 crore by August 15. Talish says that the revenues are not an indication that the prices the weavers charge are exorbitant. 

“I never knew pashminas could be in the range of Rs 14 to 15,000 rupees. I always thought they began from about Rs 30,000. But Majid Ahmad Mir saab explained to me this was the price he sold it for. The fact that we paid more than twice that in a South Extention showroom in Delhi was not an indication that his quality was inferior in any way.”  

She also gives the example of pure Benares silks that normally retail at Rs 25,000 to 30,000, but were available from the weaver starting at Rs 12,000. The same was true for the pochampally,  chanderi, bagru and all the other weaves available on the platform. 

Talish says that they have a three-part vision for the Bridge.  “The short-term aim  is to run the project till August 15, thereafter it will dissolve. The reason for this date is that we want to raise about Rs 50 lakh for the weavers. The medium-term vision is to train the weavers to be tech savvy when it comes to online transactions. For example, one of our weavers was ready to send the courier even before he got the money for the product. He could not understand how anyone could not honour a verbal agreement.”

She says the long-term vision is to build a sustained relationship between the weavers and their buyers that will continue into the future. “We want to rebuild the traditional system where families of weavers would cater to specific families in a relationship that spanned generations. That is what we have seen growing up when the weavers would come to our homes and families would buy in bulk for special occasions and for the season,” she says, adding that of the 400 customers they have engaged with, many have come back to buy more.

Speaking about what drives them and why the volunteers have made no money on this project, Talish says, “Our basic concern is not just for the livelihood, I'd say it is for the dignity of our artists. They're not going to survive this pandemic, if we don't step up.”