Hyderabad: Buy eco friendly clothing made by underprivileged women

Hyderabad: Farzana, a housewife from the city, got married at a very early age due to which she couldn’t pursue her education after 8th class. She was determined to give her three children better opportunities.

She started with making simple bags and pouches and five years later – she is one the most skilled tailors making beautiful garments in silk fabric. Farzana is grateful to Kriti Kala, the NGO that helped her learn to stitch. It changed her life making her self-reliant and skilled.   

This is the story of hundreds of underprivileged women who received skill training from Kriti Kala, a part of Kriti Social Initiatives, and are now financially independent.  

The initiative was started almost seven years ago by Himani Gupta and Sreelata Chebrol. When the duo returned to India from abroad they found that a lot of women from urban slums were unemployed and in straitened circumstances. The major reasons were lack of education, lack of skills, and social barriers.

  

“Most of the women were looking for jobs that would get closer to their homes. After a lot of surveys, we realised that tailoring, mehndi, and embroidery were easier for them to pick up. Those skills were uncomplicated for them to learn and be financially independent,” says Sreelata adding that over the years almost 1,000 women were trained.

The NGO opens centres in slums and trains women there. Currently, four centres at Film Nagar, Toli Chowki, Hakimpet Kunta, and Rasoolpura are operational.

Not just training, it provides employment too. At least 60 women are now employed with Kriti Kala that sells products made by them.

“Each product we sell is hand-made and provides a fair source of livelihood to the artisan who worked on the textiles as well as the woman involved in stitching or embroidering the product,” Sreelata says.

The brand that is passionate about sustainability uses local textiles such as Kalamkari, Mangalagiri, and Ikat. The discarded fabric is then used to make patchwork products.

You can find different kinds of dresses, tunics, kurtas, tops, and straight pants in a variety of colours, designs, and patterns. The also has a range of jute bags suitable for conferences, wedding gifts, and training programs. It also sells home décor, masks and other accessories.

You can order through their website https://kritikala.org/

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