SilaiWali’s Social Impact
A Stitch for Freedom
Video
SilaiWali is dedicated to making a positive change in the lives of marginalised communities, especially women.
Silawali works with Afghan women refugees settled in New Delhi, India, helping them earn sustainable incomes by re-training them in their home skills like stitching, embroidery and crochet work.
SilaWali is housed in a spacious and airy building situated within walking distance of the homes of all its women artisans, allowing the ladies easy access to the workplace. The Afghan women refugees employed with SilaiWali mostly hail from the Hazara, Tajik, and Pashtun tribes. These ladies and their families have fled Afghanistan, facing persecution from the Taliban and other oppressive regimes.
Seeking refuge in India, the refugees encounter many challenges, financial distress being the most severe hardship. Since India is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Act, the refugees have no access to the Indian government’s welfare programs. The absence of a stable income brings added misery to the refugee families, women and children mainly bearing the maximum brunt of it.
To address this vulnerability, SilaiWali was established in 2018 with a mission to help provide sustainable income opportunities for refugee ladies. The Hazara ladies, in particular, are exceptionally gifted in artisanal skills. Their deft fingers create magic with just a needle and some thread in their hands. Embroidery and crochet work are a part of the Hazara heritage the ladies carry when they arrive in the host country. But this extraordinary skill these ladies possess has never been employed to earn a livelihood when they were in their home country. It was a skill they used only for their homes, for domestic consumption.
SilaiWali has found a novel way to use these home skills of the refugee ladies in making beautiful handicrafts in the luxury range category of home products — loved and wowed in the international market. The outcome has paid rich dividends in empowering over 300 Afghan refugee ladies in the last five years associated with SilaiWali in their need of the hour. Moreso, these gritty Afghan ladies with a never-say-die attitude have earned valuable foreign exchange for their host country, in this case, India. Following global trends, SilaiWali develops contemporary designs in line with the season’s demand. Refugee women are then trained to handcraft SilaiWali’s line of products using waste fabric generated by the garment manufacturing industry.
SilaiWali strictly adheres to fair wages and no child labour policies. The wages earned by the female refugees help support their families, send their children to school, and meet other financial needs. The incomes of the artisans comply with local government wage regulations. The initiative goes beyond economic empowerment. SilaiWali artisans are made aware of their maternity leave rights and workplace sexual harassment laws. They are provided training in first aid and fire safety protocols.
SilaiWali strictly adheres to Fair Trade principles and is certified by the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) as a Guaranteed Fair Trade Enterprise.One of SilaiWali’s key social objectives is to dismantle the patriarchal structures in society. Traditionally, Afghan women have not been breadwinners. They have had no spending power or a say in the maledominated hierarchy of their household. A regular income from SilaiWali for the ladies has shaken up the power dynamics vis-a-vis the gender equation in their families. Many of the SilaiWali’s women artisans are now the sole earning members for their households of 8-10 members, where the men now tend to the household chores — a rarity in general. Additionally, SilaiWali fosters a supportive community environment, allowing women to participate independently in decision-making processes within the enterprise. SilaiWali is a liberated zenana — an all-women workplace where laughter, conversation, and streaming music create a playful atmosphere during work hours. SilaiWali stands as a beacon of empowerment, reshaping the economic landscape for these women and transforming social norms within their communities.
SilaiWali’s Environmental Impact
A Stitch Against Waste
Video
SilaiWali, situated in Delhi, operates within India’s largest manufacturing hub for the fast-fashion industry. This sector contributes significantly to environmental issues, with up to 47% of all fibres entering the fashion value chain ending up as waste. The textile waste generated by fast fashion stands as the third-largest pollutant in Delhi, trailing only behind vehicular emissions and biomass burning. Notably, it also ranks among the primary sources of plastic microfiber pollution in oceans.
The prevailing textile economy follows a take-make-waste system, extracting raw materials from the Earth, manufacturing products, and eventually discarding them as waste. The fast accumulation of apparel scraps, often burned or buried in city landfills, perpetuates an unsustainable cycle, considering the finite nature of our planet’s resources
Recognising this environmental challenge, SilaiWali has pioneered a solution by upcycling textile waste into home decor products. This innovative production process aligns with the principles of a circular economy, aiming to eradicate waste and pollution. SilaiWali’s approach has garnered recognition, exemplified by successful collaborations with the US-based multi-retail chain Cost Plus World Market and Free People, and collaborations with fashion luxury brands like Chloé and Ulla Johnson, SilaiWali upcycled waste fabric from their garment manufacturing in India into unique handicrafts. These collaborations generated nearly half of SilaiWali revenues and contributed to preserving over 15 tonne of waste fabric in India.
Crucially, SilaiWali’s production process has a zero-carbon footprint. All the SilaiWali handicrafts are made utilising cotton and cotton mixed rayon fabric discards to ensure a natural textile in their products. The overarching goal of SilaiWali is to create home decor items that not only possess a narrative but also adhere to principles of environmental sustainability and social responsibility. By transforming waste into valuable and aesthetically pleasing products, SilaiWali stands at the forefront of a movement towards a more environmentally conscious and socially responsible approach to the fashion industry.