Anuprerna - In a Nutshell
2022 ANUPRERNA IMPACT REPORT
With the arrival of 2023, we wanted to reach out and send our best wishes to you and yours. We hope that 2022 has been a successful year for you. As we still recover from the shockwaves from the pandemic, we are committed to ensuring that our operations are as sustainable and ethical as possible, with a focus on minimizing waste, preserving natural resources and supporting traditional crafts and local communities.
With your blessings, we look forward to now 2023 to continue on the same resolution to touch more lives of thousands of rural artisans.
OUR MISSION
At Anuprerna, we are committed to ensuring fair living wages and safe working conditions for all of our artisans. We believe that everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity, and that includes the artisans who create our products. We work hard to ensure that our artisans are paid fairly for their skills and expertise, and we also prioritize their comfort and well-being by empowering these home & community based working environment.
In addition to these efforts, we are also dedicated to caring for the earth and preserving traditional crafts and culture. We understand the importance of protecting the planet and its resources, and we strive to minimize our environmental impact through eco-friendly and sustainable practices.
We also recognize the value of traditional crafts and the rich cultural histories that they represent, and we are committed to supporting and promoting these crafts to ensure that they are not lost to future generations.
Overall, our goal at Anuprerna is to create a positive, sustainable, and socially responsible company that empowers artisans, traditional crafts, and culture while also caring for the earth. We believe that by focusing on these values, we can make a positive impact in the world and create a brighter future for everyone.
EMPOWERING ARTISANAL ECOSYSTEM
Despite the challenges, there's an increasing trend in handloom weavers households with more than 3.5+ Million artisans including artisan workers.
About 0.4 Million Handloom households are in the state of West Bengal where we are primarily focusing.
About 3.4 lakh households engaged in Handloom are in the state of West Bengal.
Usually, these artisans are built around a village community where they are born and brought up. They love to enjoy themselves as an inclusive society at the time of festivals, functions and other ceremonies. That’s why all of them have built home workshops on their own.
Usually, it’s a family-oriented homeworker environment where both men & women are responsible for weaving and other pre-weaving activities. There are a few expert women weavers too, skilled in techniques like Jamdani.
Because of home-based work, there are no work hours decided by us. Usually, the artisans work 7-8 hours only during day time. They give importance to festivals, occasions, family & community responsibilities. We respect this because we understand their comfort and happiness working in such an arrangement.
2022 HIGHLIGHTS
OUR ARTISAN COMMUNITY AT A GLANCE
OUR IMPACT ACROSS THE VALUE CHAIN IN 2022
Anuprerna is dedicated to minimizing its environmental impact across the entire value chain. From sampling and production to processing, weaving, quality checking, and packaging, the company employs a range of sustainable practices to reduce its impact on the environment.
Sourcing:
We source natural yarns & chemicals from vendors across East & South India. We also work with regional SHGs, Spinning clusters to source Handspun Khadi yarns.
Sampling:
We ensure that our designing & sampling processes are as sustainable as possible, repurposing rejected fabric, which is also 100% natural, from quality checking to create prototypes and samples in smaller quantities.
Production:
We are committed to sustainable Made to Order production practices, using solar energy and handlooms that do not require fuel or electricity in all of its production processes. We also offer flexibility in smaller quantity of sampling which further eliminates wastage of resources.
Processing:
We are using a range of sustainable practices in our processing processes, including using 100% natural materials and azo-free dyes or 22 shades of natural vegetable dyes.
Weaving:
Anuprerna works with handloom weavers from rural parts of West Bengal, supporting traditional crafts and local communities. The Handspinning & handlooms do not require fuel or electricity, further reducing the environmental impact of the weaving process.
Quality Checking:
Anuprerna Artisan Alliance has strict quality control processes in place to ensure that all of its products meet the highest standards. Through continuous training & advices, we are able to reduce rejection rate to below 5% on all our existing artisanal crafts.
Packaging:
Anuprerna Artisan Alliance is committed to minimizing waste and using eco-friendly packaging materials whenever possible. For this reason we also repurpose any deadstock fabrics for packaging which then can be further repurpose by our customers.
ARTISAN REWARDS PROGRAM
As part of our ongoing efforts to empower and motivate our artisans, we started an Artisan Rewards Program at Anuprerna. In this initiative, we shared with the artisans how their creations - made in a remote village in India - are transformed into beautiful products and used by consumers all over the world.
To illustrate this point, we presented the artisans with framed images of the final products made from their handwoven fabric, along with thank you messages from our clients.
This program was a powerful way to show our artisans the impact of their hard work and craftsmanship, and we believe it played a significant role in motivating and inspiring them to continue creating traditional crafts.
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SUSTAINABILITY OF HANDLOOM
MAKERS HIGHLIGHT
Suchita Guin is an artisan working in the Handwoven Linen Cluster of Purba Burdwan, West Bengal where she lives with a family of 3. Her role in the cluster includes the winding of the linen yarn.
Dilip Pal is a skilled Jamdani artisan from Chanduli village in Purbo Bardhaman district, where he lives with a family of 5.
Kalpana Guin is also working in the Handwoven Linen Cluster of Purba Burdwan, West Bengal where she lives with a family of 3. She weaves Linen fabric on the handloom and specialises in creating check pattern.
Rabi Dutta from Kinnahar village in Birbhum district. 60 years old, he lives with a family of 4.
He specialises in handweaving check pattern with fine yarns.
TRACEABILITY TECHNOLOGY
We are slowly moving towards a more transparent supply chain for our handwoven artisanal crafts. Now you can scan all our fabrics to find more details on their maker - the artisan clusters, the number of total artisans, male: female artisans ratio, and more. Simultaneously you are on scan way to knowing about the history, process, and evolution of all these beautiful traditional crafts.
ROADMAP AHEAD
Sourcing of raw materials:
Expand to organically produced Khadi/Cotton & alternative textiles like Hemp, Banana, and Bamboo fibers with lower water usage.
Collaborate with more spinning clusters for Handspun yarns creating more employment opportunities in the process.
Product design & Sampling:
Build a digital library of new product designs & offer on-demand production at small MoQ to reduce excess waste on product creation.
Production:
Build a water treatment & recycle facility to reduce water usage.
Measure artisans' pay and cater to their basic needs through regularized surveys with individual artisans.
Packaging and delivery logistics:
Partner with a network of suppliers for sustainable packaging alternatives using recycled papers, plastic alternatives, etc.
Partner with a carbon offset entity to compensate for the logistics and offer them as service to clients.
Consumption and Use:
Build educational content around optimum usage, washing, and maintenance techniques to increase the durability of the textiles & textile-made products.
Post Consumption:
Plan to utilize unused yarns/fabrics to create new products designs
Initiate upcycling projects in collaboration with aspiring designers
Team Anuprerna
At Anuprerna, We Requests Everyone To Contribute And Share. This Way We Can Create Global Recognition For These Beautiful Handwoven Craft & Textiles To Bestow Value Onto The Ordinary Lives Of Our Artisans With Extraordinary Skills. And We Believe That's The Only Way We Can Build A Sustainable And Ethical World For Us.
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