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This Friday is the second annual Fashion Revolution Day.  All week we will be celebrating the special relationships we have with our clients, and sharing what we have learned by working together to produce excellent quality, sustainable fair trade clothing. 

First up: a brand new label, Tem Pimenta! Tem Pimenta has been a labour of love for Swiss designer Pascale Tschopp who started work on the brand in 2013.  Pursuing the goal of combining high-quality fashion with ethical production standards, Pascale travelled to India in 2014 and we were delighted to have her visit our unit in Bangalore. 

Pascale writes: 

After having found my production partner for the fabrics, chosen the patterns and the colours, observed the process of block printing done in the traditional way, it is time for me to pay a visit to the manufacturing site. We have exchanged a number of e-mails and I am looking forward to meet the team of the fashion production house. Their site is located on the second floor of a building overlooking a street with popular local businesses. Upon my arrival I am led to a big room. One side consist of windows, which guarantee a generous amount of natural light.  Doors are left open and thus generate a consistent and refreshing flow of air. On one side of the room glass panels separate a small office; on the other side there are a kitchenette and a restroom.  But most of the space is taken up by the workplaces for sewing and the cutting table. The employees, busy at the humming sewing machines, cast curious glances at me, their faces illuminated by their smiles. 

Very quickly I feel comfortable with the small team. The workers are very industrious and concentrated. Some listen to music on their telephone, a few word are exchanged from time to time. The atmosphere is joyous and laughter can be heard here and there. The morning and afternoon tea break is sacred. All the workers gather on the balcony,  sit on the steps and savour their chai while nibbling at a biscuit. At noon they eat together the lunch each has brought from home. 

I spend two weeks with them while working on my models. I explain how each piece of fashion is assembled and they produce a sample of all my models. Some corrections are necessary and we also have to decide on the finishing. We are doing precision work and I am happy to be able to express my wishes face to face. Each minute of my stay in India is put to good use. 

I am also very happy to have the chance to personally meet the women, who produce my collection, to see their working conditions and to share their daily routine. These women are all from underprivileged backgrounds. They are trained and make a decent living at this WFTO (World Fair Trade Organisation) certified production house. I am very proud that this collaboration allows me to produce my fashion line by respecting my ethical values. 

Jacobs Well Production Manager Lydia adds:

After Pascale first got in touch with us last year, we were waiting with excitement for her visit: it always makes such a difference to meet people face to face and understand all the creative ideas and passions.  We were happy to host her at the production unit here in India and were impressed by her commitment and hard work! We were very proud to bring Pascale’s clothes to life.  We can tell that a lot of time was spent creating the designs which are very detailed and neat.  All of the tailors loved working with the bright coloured fabrics and unique cuts.  

Who makes Tem Pimenta clothes?

There is Sumitra, the talented sample tailor who helps to show the other girls how to create the garment.  There is Kanchana who is always smiling and laughing and will be getting married in June; Monica who appears serious but has a very cheeky heart; Radha who cuts the pattern pieces; Lalita who packs all the pieces up when they’re ready to ship, and many other talented ladies who all play a part in the production team.  Tem Pimenta clothes are made with love! This business relationship makes a big difference for our small company.  We give training and employment to women from slum communities who don’t have many other ways to earn money.  The confidence and independence they gain from learning skills and completing work successfully can make a huge difference in their lives and also for their whole family.  We were all very happy to see the beautiful photoshoot of these clothes for the Tem Pimenta website.  We can’t wait to see what we can help Pascale create for her next collection! Check out the range from Tem Pimenta on their website and Etsy shop.  Be a part of the sustainable Fashion Revolution!”

This Friday is the second annual Fashion Revolution Day.  All week we will be celebrating the special relationships we have with our clients, and sharing what we have learned by working together to produce excellent quality, sustainable fair trade clothing.

Today we’re collaborating with Katie Schmidt of Passion Lilie, an ethical fashion brand that seeks to empower women in India and preserve traditional handicraft skills by working with textile artisans in small villages.  Katie sources her fabrics very carefully, works directly with family-run block printing workshops and we are proud to handle her production work at Jacobs Well on an ongoing basis.  The two collections we stitch for her every year have become a cornerstone of our business and these repeat orders allow us the security to invest in slowly expanding our unit and team.

Over to Katie!

Two years ago on April 24th, the Rana Plaza factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed killing 1,133 people and injuring over 2,500. 

Thanks to individuals, bloggers and businesses throughout the world today is now known as Fashion Revolution Day, the day that we take a look at our tags and think about who made our clothes. 

Just over two years ago, I also decided to start Passion Lilie. I was inspired by the idea that a for-profit business could help create sustainable jobs and better societies for communities throughout the world. 

I am not Passion Lilie. Passion Lilie is a team of artisans across India that are dedicated to creating quality products for you.

All of our production is done in Bangalore by an organization called Jacobs Well that employs women from low- income communities. These women receive free on the job training, an above average salary, assistance in obtaining health insurance and financial advising.  On top of the general benefits, as I saw first hand during my visit, these women are happy to go to work, because at their job they have formed a positive and uplifting community. The women celebrate the joys in life such as a new baby being born by bringing sweets to work. They eat lunch together and help each other out like a family.  When asked what they love most about their job all of them expressed their appreciation for the community they have at work and that every day they get to work on something different. (They are not sewing shoulder seams, for example, every day like they would do in the apparel industry). 

And this team in Bangalore would not be such an amazing family if it were not for the mother, aka manager, Lydia who guides the women through their work. Apparel production is not easy and I am on Skype almost daily with Lydia as we work together to bring you beautiful garments.

From the stitching to our fabrics, every element of our process has a story. Our block printing is done in two very different locations in India- in the state of Andhra Pradesh, in a very small village 10 hours outside of Hyderabad and in the state of Rajasthan. Both groups consist of about 10 artisans who are paid an above average wage, especially compared to other block printing units in the region and they enjoy benefits such as loan assistance when needed and a safe and healthy working environment. In the village in Andhra Pradesh they practice Kalamkari, which is the art of using natural- plant or vegetable based dyes. The group in Rajasthan uses an azo free pigment dye that allows for a wider range in colors.

And finally just outside of Hyderabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh we work with a family of hand loom weavers who practice ikat dyeing. Passion Lilie is the first foreign group that these artisans have worked with and they have enjoyed the steady work that we have been able to provide them.

This is our story, and if we had a big enough tag, it would tell all of the above. I am so grateful for these artisans that allow me to live my dream of being an ethical designer.

Who makes Passion Lilie clothes at Jacobs Well?  The whole team is involved, from Lydia going over designs with Katie on Skype to Radha cutting the lovely fabrics, Sumi making the samples, Lalita packing the final pieces and not least Ammu making tea for us all throughout production!  Here’s a little bit more about some of the talented ladies behind Passion Lilie production:

Lydia made your clothes!

Lydia is the backbone of Jacobs Well and she’s an incredible testament to the very reason the company was founded: we truly believe that sustainable work and training opportunities will change peoples’ lives.  Lydia didn’t finish her schooling since English was not her mother tongue and she found the English language medium of the classes too hard.  For some time she sat at home with few prospects before she was invited to join the very first batch of tailoring training with Jacobs Well in 1998.

Having shown great potential in training, Lydia became a sample tailor at the unit in 1999, from where she quickly rose into managerial roles.  As Production Manager, Lydia now oversees the daily operations including quality control, technical advice and budgeted labour, as well as coordinating with buyers and overseeing production targets.  That’s a lot, but it’s not all!  With Jacobs Well’s support, Lydia’s entrepreneurial spirit has grown in leaps and bounds: going back to evening classes and completing her secondary education in 2009 has enabled her to pursue her passion for fashion with a diploma in Fashion Designing & Merchandising, and most recently a diploma in Business Entrepreneurship on which she won the top prize for her business plans.

Lydia’s success has had a direct impact on her family, enabling them to move out of a slum community to a bigger, safer home close to work.  Her two daughters are inspired to do well in school and know that anything is possible for their future if they work hard.  Lydia is able to offer mentorship and encouragement to all the girls in the Jacobs Well unit no matter how sparse their education or training.  And thanks to regular production orders like those from Passion Lilie, Lydia has been able to help oversee the growth of the unit and the potential to employ many more women.  Dropping out of school due to a lack of confidence speaking English seems a very long time ago now that Lydia catches up with Katie on Skype most days!

When Kalaivani joined the Jacobs Well team in May 2012, she was as timid as a mouse.  She had experienced much sadness in her family and her confidence was at rock bottom.  Having no formal training in tailoring, she was first helping at the cutting table before moving on to take six months of training in stitching here at the unit.  And now there is no stopping her!

Gaining skills, taking on responsibilities and completing her work to a high standard has all contributed to Kalaivani truly blossoming.  She has consistently taken the initiative in improving her own skills and this year, Jacobs Well has supported Kalaivani to go back to school to complete her 10th Standard exams which will open the door to a world of further training, education and opportunities in her future.  Kalaivani has worked on Passion Lilie clothes since the very first order and enjoys the variation of styles and prints.  The Spinnaker pants with the slit were quite the revelation around here!

If you can hear a loud laugh at Jacobs Well, it’s almost guaranteed to be Kanchana!  A member of the stitching team since early 2013, Kanchana had completed a tailoring course run by an NGO and also had prior experience in the garment industry.  She is patient, learns very quickly and is committed to her work, being determined to stay on at Jacobs Well in the future when she gets married rather than being at home as a housewife.  Hooray for independence!

Kanchana has been trained by our main sample tailor Sumitra
to lead on ever more complex stitching jobs and she is now working confidently on Passion Lilie samples for every collection.  Kanchana’s favourite thing about tailoring has always been dreaming up designs for her own dresses so it is fascinating for her to see all of the different Passion Lilie cuts and details.  She is very excited to see the next season’s designs already!

It’s Fashion Revolution Day tomorrow! Who made your clothes?

Today we’re sharing a partnership that’s very close to our hearts: Lucy Tammam, the creative force behind London-based boutique House of Tammam, was one of our very first professional clients at Jacobs Well.  We are thrilled to still be working with Lucy today.  She has stuck with us through thick and thin, becoming a real member of the family!

Just over 10 years ago I first went to visit a little production unit in Bangalore called Jacobs Well.  I’d been working with them for my first (ethical) fashion label Tam & Rob, and decided due to a few difficulties it would make sense to go out there and work with them directly.

From the moment I stepped through the door I was hooked… I met Lydia – a force to be reckoned with, and still is – at the time she was part of the production team, now she owns part of the company! Lydia and I have grown to be good friends over the years we have worked together, we have learned from each other, laughed together and I have quite often cried on her (I have never seen her cry, she is far too cool for that!).

<em>Through the years I have spent time helping to train the girls at JW. I have offered my knowledge and expertise to help them grow from a little mad cap production unit in small room above an office, to a fully functional, phenomenal and highly professional CMT unit. In return I have been shown respect as a valued customer, have been supported through my crazy ideas and impossible sampling missions. I have been rewarded with the highest quality production and the opportunity to work with people I not only know personally but I can also call friends.</em>

A few years ago I employed someone called Ammu, through Jacobs Well. Brenda said to me they had a girl cleaning for them, that she was really good and wanted to learn but Jacobs Well didn’t have money for her salary. I took her on to do all my finishings and accessory production. Ammu too has grown to be a friend, an amazingly strong and dedicated woman, she has worked her way up in JW through sheer determination. I am so glad I was able to give her the start she needed and am so proud of how successful she has become.

Sumitra and I had a run in early on, she made a very expensive mistake on some fabric she was cutting and I was furious (I didn’t have any more fabric!). However as time went on, I noticed how brilliant she was at tailoring, I put her in charge of stitching my ready to wear wedding dresses and she did not disappoint. She is an asset to JW and quite frankly I wouldn’t have had a collection without her.

I feel so privileged. I know who made my clothes, and my customers do to. To me that is worth so much. Here’s to another decade working with people I know and love at Jacobs Well.

From Jacobs Well Production Manager Lydia:

Lucy was our very first client for fashion clothes.  Until she contacted us, Jacobs Well was producing only small items like bags and baby clothes, so it is impossible to overestimate the impact that Lucy has had on our business.

It is fair to say that there were quite a few mistakes in the very first pieces we made for Lucy and her friend ten years ago.  For one design, she asked us to stitch a pair of trousers and then dye the finished item.  Happily we sent the constructed trousers for dyeing only to see the whole thing returned with the bright white stitches glowing out from the coloured fabric: not knowing any better, we had used polyester thread which had not taken the dye. Oops.

Lucy’s patience and ability to adapt was our saving grace in those early days, and we are so happy that she saw our potential and stuck with us.  We have learned so much from her over the years.  Most of all, she had enough faith in us and gave us such good training that our small team of tailors was eventually able to produce the ultimate couture items: wedding dresses.  For this, we had to learn special ways of making seams, how to make a bodice with boning (which was completely new to us), the proper ways to fit the dress, how on earth to cut such a long garment properly: it was a huge achievement for us and all down to Lucy’s training.  In addition to her commitment in working with an ethical production unit, Lucy was also a pioneer in using sustainable fabrics and taught us about materials including peace silk, where the moth is able to fly free from the cocoon.

Both Ammu and Sumitra have grown in confidence and ability thanks to their work for House of Tammam.  I am also very grateful for the training she has given me, and for the confidence she has in me.  We are honoured to count Lucy as our first ‘real’ client and as a friend of Jacobs Well; it is our pleasure on Fashion Revolution Day to say we made your Tammam clothes!

It was our pleasure to welcome Christine and Elise from WFTO  to the Jacobs Well unit this week.  We were able to show them around the unit, introduce them to the whole team and spend more time working on the new WFTO Guarantee System paperwork together.  The conference here in Bangalore earlier in the week had made a huge difference in helping us understand the new systems and processes, but this time spent one-on-one with the team was fantastic.  The members of the WFTO here in South India are so varied in their work – handicraft producers, edible goods companies, production units like ourselves – so it was really valuable to have Christine & Elise advising us on exactly how the WFTO systems should be applied in our specific context.

It’ll be no small task to follow up on all this!  As a production unit, we are responsible for cutting, stitching and finishing products.  Fabric choices are up to our clients and we work with such a variety of brands that we have materials from many different sources coming into the unit.  However as part of our commitment to the WFTO and fair trade in general, we need to place more emphasis on encouraging clients to select fabrics that are produced in line with the 10 Principles of Fair Trade:

We’re up for the challenge!  Several of our clients already have very strict standards for their fabric sourcing and we’re developing a strong network of ethical fabric suppliers that we can recommend for future orders.  Ensuring every step of a garment’s production chain is fair and sustainable truly adds a huge value to the final product.

We have monitoring committees to form and supplier auditing to begin.  There’s no such thing as a quiet day around here!

Fashion Revolution Day 2016 marks three years since 1,134 people were killed and over 2,500 injured when the Rana Plaza complex collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  It was the worst ever industrial accident to hit the garment industry and the Fashion Revolution campaign aims to make sure such an atrocity never happens again.  Consumers around the world are encouraged to question who made their clothes, while designers, tailors and all those involved in sustainable fashion production take the opportunity to share pictures and stories from their workplace

We asked Molly, a British fashion student currently interning at Jacobs Well, to share some thoughts on the occasion.

FASHION REVOLUTION AT JW PRODUCTION.

From having 20 years of shopping addiction and spending all my months’ wages on clothes shopping, my experience at Jacobs Well has opened my thoughts and mind enormously.WHO MADE MY CLOTHES?  It’s so scary to think how fast fashion is, how massive the demand on the industry is, and the sheer scale of the production needed to make the clothes for sale. Cheap labour is often used while the clothes are sold at expensive prices in the UK. Where on earth does that money go?

Fashion Revolution Day is a massive step forward in bringing awareness to people like me, who buy clothes excessively because you think you need it for that party. “I have nothing to wear!” I say.  And yet I have about 5 drawers and a whole wardrobe full.  Okay I love clothes.  But now I know:

1) To buy it from somewhere where workers have a fair wage, good working conditions and there is no child labour. The people making our clothes have mouths to feed and a family to provide for. And I never thought when buying my clothes that SOMEONE had actually made this.

2) RECYCLE my clothes! I can be more active in reusing a old t-shirt and turning it into something else. Not only are we saving wastage we are being more original in what we are wearing and starting our own style. Be brave and be bold.

As one day I dream to be a fashion designer, I now know and have witnessed how clothes should be made.  I am only going to source and base my design through equality.  To have an active relationship at every stage of making a garment that I have designed.  It’s important to me to know the people who cut, stitch and send my designs.  This is what Jacobs Well has taught me before I begin my lifetime in the fashion industry; without it I would have been blind to where I could have sent my designs – most likely to unethical fashion production sweat shops.

Thank you Molly!  It is so exciting and inspiring to see the next generation of fashion designers and consumers connect the dots in the industry so early on, and commit to changing the status quo.

We’ve been so fortunate to have had several visitors share their expertise with our training class recently.  The experience and skills that each visitor shares has helped to create such a vibrant and lively learning environment!

Theresa, from Australia, was in Bangalore for several months and contacted us, eager to come in and learn more about our unit.  With a lot of experience in both hands-on tailoring and the business side of garment production, we were the first fair trade unit she had spent time in and it was very interesting for all of us to learn about the differences between the way we work and the conventional garment sector.  Initially set to spend time with each group in the unit – training, pattern cutting, stitching and finishing – Theresa enjoyed the training so much that she chose to get stuck in with them fully for the time that she was here.

As a skilled seamstress herself, Theresa was quick to identify really crucial basic skills that the trainees needed to work on, such as using a measuring tape correctly and being able to sew with more precision.  By the end of her all-too-short time at Jacobs Well, Theresa had the group stitching neat circles, squares and straight lines, plus she designed a fun ‘test’ project of stitching a miniature sari blouse, which required a great combination of creativity and accuracy.  Thank you for all your help, Theresa – it was fantastic to have you here!

Sam and her business partner Lina came to Jacobs Well in October to work on samples for their product line, launching in New Zealand next year.  By the time they got to Bangalore they had already spent a while in other parts of India, visiting organic cotton farms in the north and getting to know more about the industry and the communities impacted by organic farming.  Lina was able to be in Bangalore for a week to see their initial samples start to take shape, while Sam has stayed on for a couple more weeks to oversee further product developments and get to know Jacobs Well even better.

With strong skills in operations and process management, Sam has been a huge help to the unit, overseeing new supply management systems and teaching us incredibly useful tricks like how to measure fabrics by weight rather than opening it all out to measure by hand every time.  She has also spent a lot of time with the trainees, working with them on the accuracy of their cutting and sewing.  As a great practical task to highlight the importance of these skills, the trainees have been cutting squares from the leftover scrap fabrics in the production unit and assembling them into small baby quilts.  They look fantastic, and the trainees have been so satisfied to see their work result in something both beautiful and functional!  The fact that it’s upcycling waste fabrics is a huge added bonus and something we’ve been really keen to work on at the unit.

Thank you, Sam!  We’re looking forward to working on your garments and having you and Lina back again next year!

One of the things we most enjoy about being part of the World Fair Trade Organisation is connecting with other member groups, be it here in south India or around the world – it’s fantastic to see all the creative work being done by producers and a passionate commitment to fairness and empowerment in the workplace by the management.

Last week we had the pleasure of travelling three hours north of Bangalore to Anantapur in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh, to visit the Integrated Development Trust (IDT).  We had met Silvia and Safia, lead staff members on the project, at the WFTO Asia workshop here in Bangalore last February and it was great to connect with them again in considerably more peaceful surroundings!  IDT was set up under the umbrella of the Rural Development Trust (RDT), a large NGO with several campuses across Anantapur and the surrounding areas.  Established by Vicente Ferrer, a Spaniard, in 1969 to offer “various need-based welfare and integrated programs of development to improve quality of life of rural poor especially marginalised and underprivileged sections”, RDT attracts many international volunteers and the campuses are bustling with Spanish people of all ages.  We were so impressed to hear both Spanish volunteers speaking Telugu, the local language, and Indian staff members speaking Spanish!

IDT works with differently abled women to produce handicrafts in six main categories: textile crafts, fashion jewellery, jute crafts, recycled paper products, papier mache and eco-crafts using sustainable materials such as areca palm leaves.  We were able to visit each of these producer groups in their calm, breezy workrooms and see the excellent quality of products as well as the camaraderie between the women and their team leaders, several of whom have been promoted from within the groups.  It was also really valuable to sit with Silvia and Safia to fully understand the workings of the organisation, what they hope to achieve next and all the inventive steps they are taking to grow sustainably as a major handicrafts producer.

With around 200 women in their craft groups, IDT is considerably bigger than Jacobs Well but regardless of size there were so many invaluable points for us to connect on and share our experiences.  We’re in the process of stepping up our inventory management here, and the IDT stock spreadsheets were a work of art – that alone has given us a high standard to aim for!  Overall, it was just wonderful to share a day with such inspiring people who have a really strong commitment to fair trade and transforming the lives of underprivileged women.  We hope to go back to their lovely peaceful campus again before too long!

The training course run by Fashion with Heart Creations here at the Jacobs Well unit is underway!  In fact, we’re now nearly halfway through the six month course, which covers cutting, stitching and fashion design.

We started with five trainees who all live fairly close to the unit.  And… we still have five trainees, which is amazing!  In previous training batches, whether it be here at Jacobs Well or run in conjunction with a partner NGO, there has always been a percentage of drop-outs who either lose interest, get married and have to stay home, or start working elsewhere midway through the course.  We’ve worked really hard to update the training curriculum and make it practical and engaging for the students, and a combination of this and a little bit of bonding magic between the ladies has seen the whole class very keen to stay for the duration.

The women on the course are all new to tailoring and are learning fast.  They have come together wonderfully as a group and are thoroughly enjoying each others’ company and the opportunity to be out of the house, learning something new and not thinking about household chores!  From a variety of religious backgrounds, they have already shared mini celebratory lunches for both Eid and Ganesh Chaturthi amongst the group.

We are thrilled to see the trainees hitting their stride and starting to get creative with their work.  There’s a lot more to cover in the next few months but the skills they are picking up will last them a lifetime.  Due to family commitments, several of the trainees are planning to set up small tailoring businesses from home, but we’re very keen that those who want to stick around will join the Jacobs Well tailoring team next year!

 

Halagevaderahalli!  How fast can you say that?

Brenda was recently asked to share Jacobs Well’s training expertise at a new project in the Halagevaderahalli area on the outskirts of Bangalore.  Established by the NGO Oasis India, this tailoring programme is set in the midst of high unemployment, violence and under-age marriage.  Oasis is committed to bringing about a positive transformation in the community and it was fantastic to see the training sessions bringing together women from different religions and backgrounds.

Oasis wanted to encourage the ladies in the programme to look beyond the training and see where their new skills could lead them – enter Brenda and Jacobs Well!  Sharing a similar root to this new Oasis project, Jacobs Well was a clear example of what could be achieved in the future.  In order to succeed in tailoring, the trainees need to concentrate on skills, quality and professionalism.  Brenda gave one presentation sharing all about Jacobs Well, one on what professionalism means and how to start putting that into practice now (yes even in training, much to everyone’s amusement!) and then a workshop on quality, spotting the differences between examples of excellent workmanship with poorer quality pieces.

The sessions were a great success and a good laugh too!  It was a valuable opportunity for us to look back and see how far Jacobs Well has come since our early days as a training scheme, the lessons we have learned and how we can support other community groups to succeed.  Vocational training is something we’re hugely passionate about and it was our pleasure to spend time encouraging these ladies to work towards a bright future.