With increasing awareness about sustainable and handmade products, there is a growing demand for handloom textiles in the fashion and apparel industry. Consumers are seeking unique, handmade, artistically created clothing. EDII play a significant role in supporting weavers in the handloom sector by providing them with the necessary skills, knowledge, resources, and support to create new products, adopt best practices and emerge as noted artpreneurs. EDII under the support of HSBC, implements project ‘Handmade in India’.

The four-year project ( 2019-2024) focused on evolving an entrepreneurial ecosystem around 6 selected handloom clusters spread across five states – Assam (Kamrup), Gujarat (Surendranagar & Bhuj), Madhya Pradesh (Maheshwar), Odisha (Bargarh) & Tamil Nadu (Salem).

The project focussed on developing a holistic entrepreneurial environment and encourages inclusive growth of six handloom clusters. It focused on improving livelihoods, creating employment opportunities, developing robust infrastructure, providing skill training, ensuring financial inclusion and promoting business proficiency in areas such as design, product development and market expansion. The project also intended to facilitate brand building, effective promotion and socio-economic development of the weavers.

The project has managed to create a competitive and robust ecosystem for handlooms in six clusters across Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu. The project encompassed six key result areas (KRA) viz. increase in credit, new design and print collection; increase in sales through social media platforms; marketing linkages through exposure and exhibitions; capacity building & skill enhancement, and enterprise development.