Driving back to Guwahati from her makeshift office in Assam’s Loharghat Forest Range, Mandakini Gogoi, founder of 7Weaves Social Pvt Ltd. ( 7Weaves ), thinks about how to refine the 7Weaves model. She co-founded the social venture along with her friend, Uma Madhavan, and husband, Rituraj Dewan, in June 2017. Its aim is to set up a sustainable textile and garment company in Assam by providing livelihoods to forest-dependent families through the integration of their village economy with the global ethical fashion market.
Background
The Brahmaputra Valley and the adjoining hilly areas are one of the planet’s most biologically rich —but also heavily threatened regions. Since the 19th century, the pristine forests of Assam have been depleted, not only because of expanding crop production but also as a result of commercial timber exploitation for the world market. Assam’s population increased from 3.3 million in 1901 to 33.5 million in 2011.
A UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) report had ranked Assam low in the country’s human development index (less than 0.473), and there are still huge diparities among the people in terms of basic livelihood requirements. Maternal mortality in the State is among the highest in the world. The lack of adequate employment opportunities leaves people with limited choices and impedes the qualitative improvement of their lives.
“The current focus of livelihood projects in the region is designed and relies on increasing the exploitation of natural resources, which could destroy the fragile ecosystem further,” says Mandakini. In search of a sustainable solution, Mandakini and Rituraj started exploring the forest villages near Guwahati, held consultations with self-help groups and village women’s organisations. Assam is home to three of the wild varieties of silk found in India, and rural people traditionally practise sericulture for their own use and boast a rich culture of using handlooms. While various development projects are working to transform this traditional practice into a commercial activity by creating an infrastructure base and skilling the weavers, the absence of a clear market approach has made these projects economically unsustainable.
Eri silk products
Mandakini and Rituraj decided to explore Eri silk products as the silk was traditionally produced in a sustainable way by the villagers and was endemic to the region. Eri silk was derived from the caterpillar Samia cynthia ricini . The woolly white silk was often referred to as ahimsa silk (the fabric of peace) as it was processed without killing the silkworm.
“Eri is a very versatile silk and, if properly positioned, can be a good fabric for the world fashion industry,” said Mandakini. So, armed with a bagful of samples, they decided to explore the possibilities of selling eri silk in the European market. They met fashion labels and design universities in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
A chance meeting with Jeanine Glöyer of fair fashion label Jyoti Fair Works, in Berlin, gave them an entry into the fair fashion industry. In February 2017, Jyoti Fair Works’ Carolin Hofer visited Assam, and together they met various silk-producing NGOs and producer companies to explore the possibilities of sourcing the product.
Then, in April 2017, while attending the Clean&Unique movement in the Netherlands, the founders of 7Weaves interacted with people from the global ‘slow’ fashion industry who discussed their challenges and opportunities. On their return from Amsterdam, Mandakini, Uma, and Rituraj realised the true potential of an ethical and transparent model. They understood that they had to focus on sustainability in order to meet the ethical demands of their stakeholders.
“Consumers have become more critical. They want high-quality and durable products manufactured in an environment-friendly manner, under fair conditions. Only companies that tap market potential with sustainability innovations become competitive. For the slow fashion industry, sustainability and economic success are no longer a contradiction but a necessity,” said Mandakini.
7Weaves model
7Weaves was set up as an integrated textile-garment manufacturing facility in partnership with local communities dependent on the forests in Assam’s Loharghat Forest Range. It is a for-profit company focused on eri silk. Rituraj pointed out that there was a plethora of dye-yielding plants in this region, which could be used to colour the fabric naturally. The founders aimed to create world-class facilities to cater to the global market by offering competitive prices for the highest quality. By expanding the market and going global, they hope to create continuous and gainful employment for the artisans.
“A village artisan earns about ₹2,800-3,500 per month in a year. But then, for how many months in a year does she have work? The spinners of eri cocoon earn about ₹160 for eight days (four hours daily) of work using new improved charkhas provided by government programmes. And for rearers of the eri silk cocoons, the hard work of 27 days gives them ₹650-700 per kg. The question is how to make this a viable livelihood as opportunity cost is very low. How can each of these various stakeholder of the production ecosystem earn a steady income of say about ₹10,000 per month for all twelve months,” asks Rituraj.
The local artisans often received exploitative wages, even from the so-called ethical and social ventures that sell their products at high margins to affluent people in India and in the West. Many of them cannot even access basic medical facilities, he added.
Work guarantees
As of 2018, 7Weaves provided guaranteed work for artisans at ₹6,000 per month for the whole year . 7Weaves also offered to distribute 50 per cent of its profits annually to the workers, increasing the living wages of the artisans and other participants in the supply chain. The remaining 50 per cent would be used to improve the working environment, training, and expansion of business.
“By such ‘profit re-distribution’ we hope to create a new model of ethical business, where workers are the beneficiaries of 7Weaves’s profit orientation and not the victim, as is the case in the industry now,” said Mandakini.
At the same time, the founders want to preserve the natural resources of this biologically rich but ecologically fragile region. Rituraj said the biodiversity per square km in Assam was so much more than in many international hubs for textiles, including other parts of India, where the industry had matured and had other strategic advantages. So, the handlooms of Assam could be marketed to the conscious market. “While others are focusing on fast fashion, we will focus on slow fashion,” says Mandakini.
So, while the initial idea focused on how to save biodiversity by decreasing the indigenous people’s dependence on the forest by creating alternative sources of livelihood, the 7Weaves founders soon started thinking about a model that would increase the dependence of the villagers on the forest. “If you increase their dependence on the forest for their livelihood, they will take it upon themselves to protect the forest,” pointed out Rituraj.
The founders of 7Weaves felt that the for-profit structure was best suited to their objectives. Mandakini said the biggest barrier to working with artisans was not having access to a comprehensive collection of samples, quality control, time management, communication, and pricing. So, they wanted 7Weaves to be run like a professional organisation, with a professional team taking care of finance, designing, production planning and marketing. They do not want the artisans to be involved in the management of the venture, as in the case of producers companies or cooperatives.
“They are not trained to manage a professional organisation. So, instead of pushing them to manage, we have made them part of the venture by offering them share of the profit,” said Mandakini. To instil professionalism, the artisans were also required to come to the workplace rather than work in their houses as they used to. 7Weaves was, however, flexible with the timings, though each artisan was required to log in eight hours a day. Mandakini pointed out that many of the artisans were, in fact, clocking more than eight hours, voluntarily and without any supervision.
At 7Weaves, each garment can be traced back to the persons who wove it, spun the fabric, and reared the cocoon and it is possible to calculate how much each of these persons had earned from that particular piece of fabric/garment.
Looking ahead
By early January 2019, 7Weaves has been able to provide guaranteed work to people in 36 households. Mandakini wants this number to increase to 150 households by end 2019. Caroline Poiner, founder of the Australia-based Artisan of Fashion, who has spent time in Assam understanding the 7Weaves concept, called it a “holistic approach that has the potential to create a lasting impact on the entire community.”
According to her: “In my experience, often, the ‘band-aid’ approach of providing employment for weavers without consideration of all the other factors is fundamentally flawed… promoting hand-loomed silk on a commercial scale without any means to procure the spun silk in quantities necessary to make this viable leads to a breakdown in supply. By focussing on biodiversity and conservation, from agro-forestry to the rearing of the silk worms, mosaic planting for both fodder and natural dyes, and spinning the yarn through to the final woven product, the whole community can thrive and become economically independent.” (see the table) .
The model also attracted the attention of Handwork Studio’s Rachel MacHenry, a Canada-based textile designer. She has even donated some of her design work to 7Weaves. In August 2018, Rachel travelled to Assam to work with the artisans and develop a textile collection especially aimed at markets in northern Europe. She worked with the artisans of 7Weaves to showcase a fashion collection at the Berlin Fashion Week to be held in July 2019.
Holistic exercise
“The strength of the 7Weaves model is that it looks holistically at craft production, seeing it positioned within a bio-region, and understanding that the environmental goals of the project are as important as the social, cultural and economic goals. I also feel that the economic goals are clear-headed, not romantic or wishful… it is important that all the artisans earn enough to live comfortably, to have medical access and education and to benefit from the success of the project through profit-sharing,” said Rachel.
However, others felt that the model was outdated as it was resource-intensive. They pointed out that at a time when companies in different industries were trying to run businesses without investing in resources (Uber, Airbnb, etc.), 7Weaves was committing resources to infrastructure and artisans, something unheard of in the handloom industry.
7Weaves has started getting orders from slow fashion brands in Germany, France, and Australia and is sampling a few more in Belgium and India. At the same time, Mandakini has to contend with some customers who do not understand the concept of slow fashion, and push for quick supplies of artisanal products.
She is also worried about pricing of the product. Eri was similar to the comparably lower-priced khadi cotton in look and texture and does not have the lustre of silk, yet it is costlier to produce. While the price of a metre of khadi cotton could be as low as ₹170, the price of the 7Weaves product is higher (see the table) . Will Mandakini be able to convince global fashion brands to buy their produce at a higher price that would help them support their model and scale up too?
The Questions:
Put yourself in Mandakini’s shoes, and answer the following questions:
1) What are your suggestions for refining the model?
2) What can 7Weaves do to scale up the model?
3) How can Mandakini effectively market 7Weaves’s products to global fashion brands?
The last date to submit your analysis is midnight of February 6, 2019 . Each participating team should have not more than two members. Solo submissions are allowed. The top three teams will receive gift vouchers worth ₹12,500, ₹7,500 and ₹5,000 from leather goods company Hidesign. Please read detailed Rules of the Challenge on BL on Campus ' Case Studies page. Mail your entries to blcasestudies@thehindu.co.in
(The author is Dean at ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad. This case was compiled from published sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation.)