Jhoole Fashion Show

This month with the help of the Rotary Club of Maheshwar and Chetanya Sewa Sansthan, we organized a Jhoole fashion show. The goal of this project was to allow Jhoole seamstresses, weavers and embroiderers a platform to show off their skills and creativity. All of the designs were created by them without any input from Jhoole designers. Vandana Kewat, a Jhoole embroiderer, said that she had never dreamed that she would have the chance to participate in a fashion show, all the girls around her nodded in agreement. In this rural area, people often think that fashion exists in a distant cosmopolitan world of wealth and glamour. The Jhoole women used to see their skills as simple folk art, but they are starting to appreciate that they can use their amazing traditional techniques in modern and innovative ways. The participants designed garments in Indian, “western” and hybrid styles; they took inspiration from donated fashion magazines and Fashion TV.  Those too timid to wear their own creations, sewed dresses for their daughters to wear. I was pleased and surprised by the fact that although this is a fairly conservative society, no one raised any opposition. Everyone who participated was excited to take part and show off their unique garments.

A group from the Rock Valley College Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) came to Maheshwar for eleven days to learn about Jhoole’s work, get experience in running a social enterprise on the ground, and to help us plan to maximize our positive effect on this community. They participated in the fashion show by acting as judges and choosing 5 finalists. The audience then voted for their favorite dresses and two women tied in first place.

Now that the show is over, Jhoole weavers, seamstresses and embroiderers are more confident, hard-working and enthusiastic than ever. Our work is not just about helping women to gain economic independence… it is about empowering them through promoting creativity and camaraderie.  Almost all of our workers are traditional housewives who used to work on garments alone from their homes in order to pass the time between their chores. Since they have started working with Jhoole they have had the chance to unite and learn from one another. They share original stitches and show off various designs that they have created. They now have a platform that fosters creativity and builds community and their gratefulness makes our work incredibly rewarding!

Press

The Jhoole exhibit organized by Jhoole and SIFE and partially sponsored by Rockford Art’s Council was a great success! We got lots of press and a really good turnout. Here is an interview with Gale Ketteler of Womanspace on Fox 39 about the exhibit: http://mystateline.com/content/fulltext/?cid=138001Watch. We were also on the cover of the Rockford Register Star’s “Go” section.

Michel Designs LOOP/ Jhoole Garments

 Award winning designer Karina Michel will be working with Jhoole on creating a cohesive line of beautiful, meticulously crafted garments. These pieces will consist of Jhoole’s hand-woven materials as well as jersey waste donated by Pratibha Syntex as part of their waste reduction initiative, LOOP. Pratibha Syntex is one of India’s leading producers of organic cotton. Pratibha is committed to empowering women and revolutionizing industrial practices in order to minimize environmental degradation; Michel has been assigned to work on a collaboration between LOOP and Jhoole in order to assist Pratibha in achieving these goals. Jhoole will be producing this exquisite jacket and skirt designed by Michel which employs a reverse appliqué technique. To read more about this technique and Michel’s work in general, visit http://www.handeyemagazine.com/node/141.

 

Back in Maheshwar

I am happy to finally be back in India. I was thankfully in the US just long enough to enjoy the winter without feeling trapped by it!  It was strange leaving the snow and unrelenting cold and moving straight into the warm Indian spring. This beautiful rural region on the edge of the Narmada River is full of sweet, enticing spring smells.  Right now it feels good just to take deep breaths.

 I ended up leaving the US at the end, rather than the beginning, of January due to a number of factors. My time in London and the US will ultimately benefit the Jhoole women as it gave me the chance to work towards developing some partnerships.  We now have some exciting new projects to employ the Jhoole women: an organic cotton sari project in partnership with the London based NGO, The Environmental Justice Foundation, and a partnership with Mata Traders, a Chicago based fair trade brand that sells to fair trade retailers and boutiques across the US, creating clothing and accessories out of recycled denim. We also increased our own retailer base and organized a photography and textile exhibition at Womanspace.  We are also on our way to being registered as a US based 501c3 nonprofit. Stacy McCaskill, leader of RVC SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) has offered a great amount of help in guiding me through the application process. She teaches a class at Rock Valley College called the Global Small Business Incubator.  She will be using Jhoole as a sample “client” to help students understand business concepts while also illustrating how business can affect positive change in the world. She will purchase products directly from us and help us to expand our retail base.  She is coming to India with a few students in March to participate in this project on the ground. Her experience and expertise will be really appreciated!  

Stacy also organized students to help setup the Jhoole exhibit at Womanspace this month, Feb. 1^st– 28^th.  Photographs will be exhibited along with textiles woven by the Jhoole weavers.  Exhibition proceeds will go to Womanspace and Jhoole. However, 100% of proceeds from pieces of textile art created by the Jhoole artisans Maya Verma and Deep Kewat will go directly to them towards the construction of sheds for their looms.

Maya Verma lives with her husband and three children, her mother in-law, her brother in-law and his wife. These 8 individuals share two small rooms. One of these rooms is almost entirely taken up by Maya’s loom. With the proceeds from the piece woven by Maya, she will be able to have a shed for her loom constructed, freeing up the available space as necessary living quarters.

Deepa Kewat had an arranged marriage when she was 15 years old. She is now 19 years old and has just given birth to her first child.  She used to walk a few miles to work every day where she wove on a loom in a communal shed.  Now that she has become a mother she wants to be able to weave at home so that she can take care of her baby while also earning the income to support her family. She has a loom, but unfortunately she has nowhere at home to put it. She currently lives with her husband and daughter in one tiny room and she cannot afford to build a shed for her loom. The person who purchases her piece of textile art will be providing her with the full funds needed to construct a shed which will allow her to continue to weave and support her family .

I am so excited about the opportunity to help Deepa and Maya in  a direct way that will change their lives drastically!

The Jhoole Weavers Project

Thank you Rotarians for the amazing work you all make possible worldwide!

Collectively, we can have a great impact in the Khargone region of Madhya Pradesh, India by uplifting and employing women who live there through a fairtrade initiative; profits earned will also be invested  in serving the most marginalized and impoverished members in the community.  I hope this blog will become a platform for Rotarians to share thoughts and ideas in regards to this project and to be connected to the project’s development.

The goal of the Jhoole Weavers Project is to support women’s development in the Khargone region through the traditional art of Maheshwari handloom weaving. This project is a humanitarian investment rather than a one-off donation: the grant will provide the means to put a system in place that will continue to generate funds that can grow exponentially in order to benefit the weavers, their families and their communities.

Background information on the project, Rotarian involvement thus far, and our cooperating organization, Chetanya Sewa, can be found under the “Pages” section listed at the top of the righthand column of this blog. Actual posts will begin in the beginning of January when I return to Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh, India!