This woman entrepreneur aims to revive traditional weaving with DIY handloom kits

When Kalaiyarasi Ramachandran first met her husband-to-be, she told him that she wanted to pursue her post-graduation and have a career. However, her parents were not keen on her studying further owing to financial difficulties. So, her husband’s ‘yes’ to her desire signalled her independence and happiness. 

She married him in 2009 and had a child soon after. 

“In 2010, when my child was two months old, I texted my husband in the middle of the night that it was time for me to study again and work. My dreams could not come to a standstill. My husband was supportive and I completed my MCA from Kongu Engineering College,” Ramachandran tells HerStory.

For the next six years, she worked as a developer in an IT firm and an AR-VR company, caught in a 9-5 routine. 

In 2017, Ramachandran was in her home village of Salangapalayam in Erode district, Tamil Nadu to deliver her second child when she noticed the startling socio-economic conditions in her community.  

Ramachandran hails from a weaving family, though her father had transitioned to the power loom many years ago. She discovered that the number of handlooms in her village had dwindled from 7,500 to 2,500. 

Most of the weavers had migrated to making cloth mats since weaving by handloom was a laborious and time-consuming task. 

She explains, “Initially, they were happy with the new weaving situation and the wages, but that too changed. The old men started working as watchmen in local buildings, and a large number of people travelled to nearby Tirupur to work in double shifts in garment factories, and were away from home from 6 am to 8pm.”

Ramachandran says the absence of parents led to many girls eloping with boys, discontinuing their studies, getting married, and becoming mothers while they were very young. Earlier, parents worked at looms in their own homes and had more time for their children, she reasons. 

Reviving a tradition

This observation got her thinking, prompting Ramachandran to think of bringing handloom weaving back to the village.

“I travelled through many villages in Tamil Nadu and discovered that weavers were learning as little as Rs 5,000 a month. Also, they did not have space in their homes to install a 6*6 loom. I was also aware of how chemical dyes were polluting the Cauvery river near her home,” she says.

These circumstances led Ramachandran to start Raatai during the pandemic–a venture that began with five looms in her own home in Salangapalayam and seven in other places in the village to offer work for weavers. She used organic yarn made from banana fibre, hemp and other materials along with natural dyes.

Convincing the weavers to use this yarn posed a challenge because they were used to working with thick yarn for floor mats. Ramachandran also had to buy cotton in bulk, which was not feasible for a young business like hers.

So, she decided to pivot and struck upon the idea of portable DIY handloom kits to give a fillip to traditional handloom weaving. Available in three options and operable at three levels, they can be used by adults and children above the age of three. 

Portable looms for all

At the first level is ‘WeaveMate’ that comes with a loom frame and a minimum quantity of naturally dyed yarn. This can be used to make small wallets, purses, wall hangings, and pouches. 

The next loom, WeaveAlly a bigger one, can be used to make handbags, stoles, and slightly bigger products. 

The third loom, WeaveFit  is customisable and can be used to even weave towels, handkerchiefs and home essential items.

Any kind of yarn can be used on these looms.

“For young children, WeaveMate can help to develop fine motor skills and aid in better hand-eye coordination. Most children just use one hand predominantly because they are using gadgets all the time. WeaveMate will help even children use both hands with dexterity and also reduce the time they spend on the screen by encouraging them to weave,” says Ramachandran. 

The portable looms come with a user manual and a QR code that takes the user to a YouTube video on how to assemble and use the loom. An online community of users help each other with troubleshooting tips and discuss designs.

Raatai’s target audience encompasses people of all ages. 

Ramachandran showcases the looms at schools in Tamil Nadu in  the hope that children pick it up as an activity and schools form special weaving clubs. So far, she has sold 150 portable loom kits to individuals and NGOs and two to an apparel retailer for display at its showrooms. 

She launched the portable looms in August last year at Startup Thiruvizha, an event organised by the Tamil Nadu Government. She has invested Rs 15 lakh on her own on Raatai and also received a Tanseed (Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission) grant of Rs 10 lakh. More recently, Raatai received the Rising Star of the Year Award and Rs 5 lakh from NSRCEL’s where the startup is incubated.

All the looms are made at Raatai’s unit in Salangapalayam. Prices start from Rs 2,000 for WeaveMate, from Rs 10,000 for WeaveAlly, and from Rs 35,000 for WeaveFit. Extra yarn can be bought from Raatai’s website. 

Ramachandran also holds workshops on weaving in schools and as a stress-busting exercise for adults. 

“We are planning to visit more schools and introduce the looms. We hope weaving will become part of the curriculum like art. We are also looking at positioning the looms as corporate gifts,” she says.

(The story was updated to include additional information on the looms.)