Labour sustainability: finding and training our craftswomen

The United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals include a commitment to “productive employment and decent work for all”, and its Sustainable Development Agenda talks specifically about the benefits of “employment for vulnerable groups, specifically women”, as well as the “urban poor” and “low-income urban residents”. 

In fact, it's clear that specifically training low-income female garment workers in developing countries enables greater financial agency and bargaining power - not only in the workplace but also in households and communities (research from the Good Business Lab). 

Embedding these values at the heart of our brand, we've worked to create a beautiful first collection that has anchored itself in creating training and employment opportunities for women in some of the world's poorest communities. 

Based in London, we've so far travelled far and wide across India, from the northern state of Punjab to the heart of several slum communities in South India.  We researched intensely, called any and every phone number we were led to, spoke to local news and radio outlets, charities, NGOs local government departments and police groups before, eventually, compiling a shortlist of women's organisations that we thought we might be able to work with.

Using a combination of paid and unpaid leave from our day jobs, and over some years, we travelled to visit many of the individuals and organisations that we had spoken to.  And once we had narrowed our search down to a handful of women's organisations, we went all in: hosting local open days, interview days, paid training days; cleaning and furnishing the organisations' centres into safe and comfortable places of work, obtaining all of the necessary technical equipment; and investing months... and years... in further paid in-person and remote training across many hundreds of training pieces.  

Although a long journey, we are thrilled to have produced our first collection of shift dresses, the Shift Collection, with a team of talented women that form part of a World Fair Trade registered women's collective that sits in the heart of three slum communities in South India. 

The organisation invests in providing training and employment opportunities for vulnerable women - women at constant risk of abuse, discrimination and trafficking. 

By enabling them to come together in a safe and secure space, the collective provides its women members with clean and safe training and employment opportunities and much other support, including wider skills classes such as English language classes and computer training classes, support with medical costs and mental health and, ultimately, an anchor from which they are able to support themselves and their families.  

Building on their existing skills, we are proud to have invested in thousands of hours of further training and training piece production to further develop their craft. 

Starting from the very beginning, this incredible group of women has gone on to produce our entire first collection by hand in the most delicate and beautiful of mulberry and raw silk.  

We are so proud of their progress, and grateful for what are now lifelong friendships.

Images: IKTIYAR, India 2016-2018