What is your boutique called and how did you choose its name?
Gaon implies Village, as our weavers are essentially villagers. Dakshayaeni is another name for Goddess Durga, a symbol of strength and prosperity. And hence was born my boutique.
With the rise of both residential and commercial buildings on the outskirts of villages, and small towns across India, weavers suffer. The large influx of retail stores and chains add to the damage. Actual labourers, farmers, weavers do not earn what they deserve in today’s world.
I have very limited capacity and bandwidth, but I wish to use my limitations to help myself and to be meaningful to some people, hence the name and the venture.
Is your focus clothing only, or have you branched out into accessories, bags, etc?
As of now I have 14 weavers and wish to focus on clothing. I do wish to expand but not now.
I wish to sell the concept of natural fabrics first, and show people how they end up in paying more, when we buy artificial clothes from big retail chains.
What advice can you give women who’d like to start their own handloom boutique?
Here are my tips for women interested in this business:
- One must have a social ecology created where she can create her market.
- One needs to be very humble, honest and approachable
- Sell original natural fibres, with pride. Do not create USP by lowering down prices, focus on quality for consumers
- Scan the local market, like schools, social clubs, nearby high rise residential complexes, team up with other handicrafts sellers. Form a small group and then organize exhibitions.
- Create lesser carbon foot prints and more e-prints, use Facebook, Google Plus to market your wares.
What makes a boutique successful, a design background or just pure passion?
Our product quality is what makes us who we are. We get the fabric totally made by hand with only natural fibres. I do not distinguish much between prices for retail and wholesale. I respect and trust my clients.
I’d also like to share a few points with everyone:
- There are and always will be people who will order goods but not pay up at the last moment, learn to accept such things.
- There will be people who will place orders, but will pretend to be so busy that eventually they will not revert back, please learn to accept this too.
- Throughout the year, one cannot expect everything to proceed smoothly, so do not lose heart.
- Quality, quality and quality should be your principle, please do not compromise for sake of increased sales.
Karabi, from the team at IndusLadies, we wish you the very best.
