Ayesha Mustafa :
Pakistan is known for its cotton production, textile and garment sectors, but it’s also home to a huge artisan sector full of skills that the world’s fashion industry is dependent on. The bigger fashion houses that commission work from artisans hold much of the power within the industry, but new brands and programmes are working to incorporate fair business practices to empower these skilled workers.
One example is Shubinak, an artisan-focused lifestyle brand launched in 2005. Its parent company Looptex is a Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified manufacturer employing more than 500 workers with a special focus on developing ethical and sustainable working practices. Established in 2004, Looptex is based in Lahore and has provided goods for brands including Econscious, Levi’s and Dockers.
Shubinak works with skilled women in Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to provide them with a sustainable income. There is no shortage of talent in the art of embroidery in Chitral: the difficult part is building a supply chain which connects women with these skills to the companies who want to buy their products.
With harsh mountains, lush meadows, giant glaciers, man-made roads and adverse weather conditions, Chitral’s population of 50,000 is spread across distant valleys at varying altitudes. Cultural norms mean that women are often prevented from leaving the home, making it difficult for them to earn an income.
To tackle these challenges, the Looptex head office in Lahore sends samples, embroidery thread, materials and colour copies of desired work to Chitral by air or courier. When the Chitral office receives these, it distributes them among supervisers of craft centres.
On average, Shubinak artisans can earn between of Rs5,000 (£51) to Rs20,000 (£205) a month for the embroidery done during their free time, with some households in Chitral home to more than one embroidery artisan working for the brand.
Shubinak sells online and has outlets in Lahore, Chitral, Islamabad and Canada, while expanding its artisan base into Punjab and Sindh. Its ambition is to work with more than 5,000 artisans, provide them with skills and entrepreneurial development and invest in community initiatives such as healthcare and childcare for its artisans.
Similar examples of using fashion as a vehicle for development can be found in other parts of South Asia. In 2006, Indian garment manufacturer Shahi Exports was selected by fashion brand Gap as one of the factories it would run its Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement (PACE) programme.
Recognising that women make up 70% of Gap’s employees and 80% of garment workers worldwide, the PACE programme is designed to put women through training in modules such as leadership, financial literacy and legal literacy.
After seeing a positive impact, Shahi Exports decided to extrapolate the programme itself and has set a goal of providing PACE training to 60,000 of its workers by the end of 2020.
To date, Gap has put 25,000 women through PACE in its affiliated factories around the world. In 2013, through its partnership with CARE International and Swasti-Health Resource Centre, Gap took PACE beyond the factory walls into communities in Cambodia and India, with plans to expand the programme into Bangladesh, Haiti, and Indonesia.
Meanwhile in Sri Lanka, MAS Holdings – a manufacturer for brands including Nike – became a signatory to the UN Global Compact Women’s Empowerment Principles in 2011. Its own women empowerment programme Women GoBeyond focuses on investing in education and training for career advancement; coaching, mentoring and counselling; HIV/Aids; work-life balance; health and safety; and, freedom from harassment.
Ethical lifestyle brand Buqa Couture provides a final example of fashion supporting women. India-based charity SHE (Self Help Enterprise) trains women in rural parts of India in needlework and design, giving the skills to earn a wage.
Buqa’s non profit arm, Buqa Woman buys the SHE collection and sells it in London, sending the money made back to SHE in India where it funds women’s training, implement infrastructure projects in villages and help with education and welfare.
In supporting the artisan sector in South Asia, the fashion industry can provide women with opportunities while keeping traditional craftsmanship alive. While there are a growing number of promising initiatives, more brands, governments and consumers will need to take action if we are to create true scale and long-term change.
