Empowering women while upcycling textile waste – it’s an odd combination – but this twin ambition forms the heart of Chindi, a Mumbai-based lifestyle brand. By bringing together the crocheting, sewing and knitting skills (yes, you read that right) of marginalized women and the business acumen of Tanushri Shukla, its founder, Chindi is truly fashioning a better world.
Shukla came up with the idea for the company when she saw kilos of leftover fabric (which is called ‘Chindi’ by tailors) at her family’s garment manufacturing factory being tossed into the garbage dump. She wanted to make use of the waste material, and thought of upcycling them into homeware. Little did she know that her idea would help women across Mumbai to lead a better life.
Chindi started by training, mentoring and employing women who were seeking economic independence but unable to take up regular jobs due to lack of education and/or family obligations, at a warehouse in a slum in Mumbai. This initiative gave them the opportunity to create a better future for themselves, their families and even their communities. Today, working with their hands, they stand on their own two feet.
First, the craftswomen receive the material and then think about the products or designs that can be made of it, from avant-garde clothes to furniture! Yes, this process is quite the opposite of what other fashion brands do, but helps Chindi to build one-of-a-kind pieces.
“Shukla says: “I think people respond emotionally when they know that our products are done by women from marginalised neighbourhoods. [But] at the end of the day, people don’t buy out of pity and therefore our effort is to create a piece that is one of a kind.”
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Featured image source: Chindi
Written by Shikha Pandey
