Job Creation and Traditional Craft – Tasar Silk Weaving in Bhagalpur, India
I went off the beaten path to learn about Eco Tasar’s model for creating jobs for people at the base of the pyramid, visiting their silk spinning and reeling clusters in Jharkhand and weaving clusters in Bhagalpur, Bihar. They are vertically integrated, producing their own yarn and textiles, and are supporting the Tasar Silk weaving tradition at risk of dying out. In
Eco Tasar is a typical cottage industry artisan producer, sourcing yarn and hand-weaving that is done in the home. This can be ideal for rural communities that have limited options for employment and may want to stay home to tend to farms, household chores, and children. It also gives people an alternative to seeking seasonal work in big cities, which would take them away from their homes and families. Despite these benefits for artisans, it can be difficult to work with international brands and abide by compliance regulations to sell products in countries like the U.S. Since the work is being done outside of a four-walled factory, certifications like fair-trade are not always applicable. I’ll be discussing players in the field that are doing great work to bridge this gap and help artisan brands like Eco Tasar reach global markets in a future post. For this article, I’ll look at how Eco Tasar is creating cottage industry opportunities for people in poor communities in India and preserving a cultural tradition.
Raw Materials – Silk Cocoons
Tasar silk is at the root of their product. Although they don’t harvest the silk themselves, they source from local vendors near Eco Tasar’s Jharkhand office. During my time in Jharkhand, I visited the Ministry of Textiles’ Central Silk Board where I got to see some silk worms and cocoons up close. I never realized quite how large
Making Yarn – Spinning and Reeling
After sourcing the raw materials, the cocoons are then distributed to the spinning and reeling villages. There are two methods of producing yarn, hand spinning
The women in the spinning and weaving clusters were happy with their work and felt good about contributing to the family income. Since they had the tools to work from home, they could make yarn in between household work and caring for their children. The extra income has helped them send their kids to school, improve their households and buy luxury items like jewelry and clothing. Since they live in rural communities, traveling for work is difficult and almost unheard of for women. Giving them an opportunity to work from home offers them a chance to contribute to their family income that they wouldn’t otherwise have.
The women work together and store the finished product in the villages. Eco Tasar provides the raw materials up front, drops off and collects the materials from the villages and pays their spinners and reelers on a regular schedule. This allows the women to do their work without worrying about transportation, up front costs, or how much they’ll get paid and when. Having consistency and a reliable payment schedule can help families plan for dips in family income or unexpected emergencies.
Producing Textiles – Tasar Weaving
A couple hours away near Bhagalpur, I walked around weaving clusters and met weavers. You know you’re in a weaving cluster when you hear a steady clacking of looms as you pass by homes.
Eco Tasar distributes the materials to their Master Weavers who work with their network of weavers to create the textiles on their traditional pit looms. Weaving is a male-dominated tradition in India, so unlike spinning and weaving villages, all the weavers we spoke to were male.
There was a different mood in the weaving clusters than I saw in the villages in Jharkhand. Most of the weavers I spoke with are not teaching their children and saw the craft dying out in the next 5 to 10 years. Without the market access and appreciation for handwoven textiles, they are being replaced by power looms that buzz in the city center. There was some variance in opinion between weavers, some were happy with their work and others were fairly negative about the future of the craft. It was clear though that it is becoming a niche market, that few consumers truly appreciate and value.
Women and children of working age are also often involved in the weaving preparation, from spinning bobbins to setting up the warp for the loom. Many families work as a team to create the textiles
I’m anxious to revisit Eco Tasar’s work in a few years to see how the weaving clusters are faring. A great deal of product innovation and shifts in the market will need to take place to continue to grow the Tasar Silk market and to ensure that there is sufficient demand for the product at a price point that allows for a living wage for weavers. I have faith that the tradition will live on, but it may be turning into more of a luxury market as the cultural knowledge becomes scarce.
Eco Tasar currently sells their products wholesale to international brands like West Elm and to local Indian retailers. You can also reach out to them directly through Instagram if you’re interested in purchasing their handwoven products.
Block Printing Traditions of Bagru – A Tour of Block Print House
About an hours drive outside of the city of Jaipur in Bagru, I met Deepak Chhipa, who runs his family’s block printing business called Block Print House. I drove up along the long dirt road to his home and was welcomed by brightly colored textiles drying on the lawn. Walking into the complex I saw the block printers rhythmically stamping away at their fabrics as I passed the workshop.
The Block Print House largely works with international brands to produce custom orders, they develop some designs for local markets as well. Deepak also gives tours and holds workshops for tourists who would like to learn more about the process. He also has some stock in the showroom for purchase, and it’s hard to leave without getting something. After seeing the artists in action and the skill they have to create such flawless pieces, I just had to take some fabric home with me for future projects. Not to mention, the prices was extremely reasonable for beautiful artisan-made products.
The Process
The process for each textile is different depending on the design. I’ll take you through the basic steps of creating block print textiles – carving the blocks, block printing, mud resist dyeing and dyeing the textiles.
BLOCK CARVING | First, they source the fabrics locally and wash and dye the
BLOCK PRINTING | The blocks are then used to print designs on the textile. This is either done with azo-free dyes, mud for resist dyeing and a bleaching solution to create different effects. In the picture to the right, the artisan is adding a second color to the floral pattern. This is very difficult because you have to match up everything perfectly. I had a chance to try block printing (with just one color) and it was extremely challenging to maintain consistency. Mine ended up too blotchy or slightly crooked, even though I was trying so hard to match up to the patterns and not put too much ink or press too hard.
I loved seeing the range of different designs, it would have been fun to just experiment and make designs at their workshop for a few days. The mud resist dyeing, in particular, would have been interesting to play around with. He showed us designs where they did mud resist printing before dyeing the whole textiles and others later in the process after block printing a pattern onto the fabric, and before dyeing the fabric for a second time. For example, in the picture below, she’s using mud resist dyeing to keep the flower part of the design pink, the whole fabric will be dyed with indigo next. It seems like there are endless possibilities.
The opportunity to try the craft hands-on was so helpful to understand how hard it is to master. The artisans in the workshop go so quickly and make it look easy. If you’re in Jaipur, you should definitely check it out. You can connect with him through Instagram, @blockprinthouse.
Inside Dunitz & Company: Beautiful artisanal jewelry and fair trade values
Many consumers hear about ethical or fair trade fashion and don’t understand what this means, does a portion of profits go to charity? Do they give a pair of shoes to kids in need? These guesses only barely scratch the surface of the intricacies of an ethical fashion business. As part of a series that takes a closer look at how to produce and run an ethical fashion enterprise, I am featuring Nancy Dunitz, founder of Dunitz & Company, who started her own fair trade artisan business over 25 years ago before it was the trendy thing to do.
We talked about how shifting consumer habits has made more people attracted to her brand, but has also changed the way people shop. For a small artisan brand, these changes in the industry demand adaptability and making quick high-risk decisions in order to keep supporting and providing work for rural artisan communities. Read more about her journey in the interview below.
As a company that has been doing fair trade fashion for a while now, how have you seen the industry change?
When I first started my business in 1989, the term “fair trade” was not in my working vocabulary. I don’t think it was in anyone’s. What was clear to me, for me, was I wanted to live by the golden rule and treat all people I worked with with the respect they deserved.
I was driven to create a fashion line that was well designed and fashion forward. Obviously, the goal was to create demand for what at the time was a new look. It was also important to pay the artisans we worked with fairly. I always assumed if I was fair and took care of the people I worked with, they would do the same for me.
Until recently, I exclusively wholesaled my designs to boutiques, gift stores and museum shops primarily in the USA. For years, imported traditional crafts were perceived as cheap and not well made. Elevating a collection that higher end shops chose to carry was our goal. And we were successful.
I started hearing the term “fair trade” in the mid 1990s. And from there, awareness of fair trade has slowly and steadily grown. For many years, people purchased our line because they thought it was beautiful. As awareness of fair trade grew, most customers found that the “fair trade” aspect was a bonus.
Has the increased awareness about fair trade helped your business?
There was a time that some retail shop owners bought from Dunitz & Company because we were Fair Trade Federation members (and/or said we practiced fair trade) before they even studied our line and decided it was attractive. Unfortunately, in recent times there has been a lot of ‘greenwashing’ and people using the buzzword “fair trade” because they think it will garner sales. There has also been an influx of compassion marketing. I believe many customers are exhausted by the constant badgering to help this charity or that charity. I think this leads to a lot of confusion. I even have a few recent wholesale customers who now tell me they buy my line because it’s pretty. Full circle.
What was the process like to decide on a specific fair trade certification for your business? These days there are many routes a company could go, you could become a B Corporation, USA Fair Trade, World Fair Trade, Nest Seal Approved, etc.
Dunitz & Company is a verified member of Fair Trade Federation. Honestly, when FTF first launched in 1994, I was approached to be one of their founding members. My colleagues informed me that in order to be a member, I would have to allow the group to audit our financials. As you know, I studied business at NYU and worked in corporate finance before launching Dunitz & Company. That concept made me uncomfortable and I declined. I mean, I knew in my heart I was doing things “right”. But the ‘audit’ aspect made me uncomfortable.
Do you remember my mentioning all the people using “fair trade” as a buzzword to obtain sales? This is why I finally applied for Fair Trade Federation membership. I knew with all the noise out there and people saying they did what they didn’t, it was imperative to be screened. Let me be clear, Fair Trade Federation members are screened and verified. We are not certified. The organization does not have the manpower to send representatives to workshops all over the globe. I can tell you, just the same that the screening process is quite rigorous. A large percentage of applications for FTF memberships are denied. And FTF depends on member dues for survival. That says a lot. Dunitz & Company is also a gold-certified Green America business.
I’ve heard that becoming Fair Trade certified can be cost prohibitive for small businesses, and the records needed to be produced can be time-consuming. Did you face these challenges?
I’m almost certain there isn’t a way for craft items to be certified. The verification process for the Fair Trade Federation is rigorous, but it is not impossible. Dues are based on gross sales. It can be significant, but it is not prohibitive. And if a company passes the screening, it absolutely makes sense to be part of this group. For more than 25 years, I’ve almost exclusively worked with two groups of artisans. I confess, this made the screening processes a lot easier on us.
While you were getting your MBA at NYU did any of your classes cover business and human rights? What was your most important learning experience since running your business on balancing business profitability and fair working conditions?
When I first went to NYU, I had no idea what I wanted to do with an MBA. I was encouraged by my parents to get a practical education and this was viewed as such. The truth is I had always wanted to go to fine art school. When I finished school, I pursued and landed a position in the entertainment business, actually at Warner Home Video. It was not an artistic or creative position. I did, however, have the opportunity to go to a lot of movie screenings! After several years working in financial planning, I naively jumped ship to start something of my own. Honestly, starting a small fashion company involves a lot of hip shooting. At Warner Bros., I was involved with projections and multi-million dollar budgets. With a small business, one bad trade show throws any projections out the window. I always say the first 5 years of my business was my tuition. I lived hand to mouth until I created a jewelry line that customers wanted to buy. I was lucky. It happened.
What is the design process like for Dunitz & Company? Are artisans involved in the process?
I do a lot of homework before I travel to Guatemala each season. I study fashion and color trends diligently. It’s a lot easier these days than when I first started. In the early 1990’s there was no such thing as email or SKYPE. Almost all of our design work was done down there. Now we can do a lot of prep work before I arrive. Communication is so much easier. I concept a good majority of what Dunitz & Company shows. I also absolutely collaborate with the artisans I work with. Very often they show me designs they’ve created. And often I say “Yes”! Let’s create your design in Dunitz colors and see what consumers in the US think. I have to admit, I’ve had a few best sellers I didn’t personally design.
What has been the biggest success for your company up to this point? What does the future look like for Dunitz & Company?
I think the biggest success is that after more than 25 years, I’m still working with and collaborating with the same community of artisans. I’ve frequently been told that without the orders Dunitz & Company generates, the bead workshop I source from would not exist. Unfortunately, a majority of folks who managed similar types of operations are no longer in business. As I mentioned, for more than 25 years, Dunitz & Company exclusively wholesaled our work to fine shops nationwide. The nature of wholesale has dramatically changed. It’s no secret that many specialty shops (and big box stores too) have closed. Most of the major wholesale gift shows have closed. And the ones that remain have become smaller. The way people shop has completely changed.
I’m optimistic for the future. However, it is clear, to continue sustaining the artisans I’ve worked with for so many years, Dunitz & Company must build a significant retail arm. We’ve launched (what I think is a beautiful retail website) www.shopdunitz.com, recently opened an Etsy shop and have a few items selling at Amazon Handmade. I’ve been working diligently on social media and am hopeful it will pay off.
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