Untold stories of Weavers!!

Do you realize how arduous weaving is?

Have you ever spared a thought for the weavers behind the art?

So Uttara's, let us first narrate you some untold stories behind the elegant and charming handloom weaves you drape on with pride.

Our country's handloom story goes back to thousands of years back. Archaeological surveys have proved that people of Harappan civilization knew this artistic practice of weaving, and there happen to be references to weaving and spinning of materials in Vedic literature. So there is no wonder that this ancient practice has taken significant strides over the years. But sadly, the life of weavers in the country did not progress at the same pace.

Yes, the livelihoods of our master weavers are a jeopardized part of our textile heritage in recent years with the mechanized hands of industrialization. We don't mean to say that power loom is not required, but why can't both the power loom and handloom sectors exist in the market at the same time? We believe the need of the hour is to sustain what we have been practicing for ages and not to eliminate it.

Apart from this, weaver's lives are made difficult, with a huge pay gap. Producers of fashion acquire perfectly woven fabrics for an insignificant sum, selling it, in turn, at expensive rates. Do you think this is what the weavers deserve for the effort and time they dedicate to keep up the already deteriorating sector?

Keeping all this in mind, we founded Uttariya in 2018. We decided to do our bit to bring handloom weavers into the mainstream, ensuring fair remuneration for their skillful work. As per the motive of Uttariya, we developed a cluster of individual weavers working under the same umbrella with a decent payout and commissions based on the sale of their products (masterpieces actually). We were more focused on providing an ecosystem for handloom research, its design, and creation as well as empowering local artisans of Bengal.

We had interacted with weavers of Bengal and realized there are weavers at the age of '70s and '80s who work for 9-10 hours a day and earn NR 5000-7000 per month for a family. They were the ones who proved to us that “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.

At that moment, we assured them justice would be provided for their struggles through our platform Uttariya.