Amazon Joins Hands With Weavers; Popularises Khadi

Amazon India has recently launched an e-commerce store for handlooms in India in order to promote Handloom Mark products and India Handloom Brand on its marketplace. Amazon in this way has provided a new lease of life to khadi and handloom by directly engaging with weavers and artisans across the country to source products and retail them.

Amazon India is playing a crucial role in its retail journey by providing a recognition to handspun Khadi which is a symbol of India’s independence movement, popularised by Mahatma Gandhi, that has got a makeover and becomes a style statement, with designers giving it a modern touch. 

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The Director and GM of Amazon India, Gopal Pillai said that this initiative has been taken to support the surge in demand for Khadi products over the last few years and they have recently partnered with the Uttar Pradesh Khadi and Village Industries Board. He further accounted that to aim success in their new digital journey the company is offering artisans "the most comprehensive suite of seller services and all the requisite tools".

The company said that khadi and handloom have turned out to be an even more important focus segment along with the textiles and apparel sector contributing both indirect and direct employment to almost 50 and 35 million Indians respectively. The increasing demand for biodegradable and organic products and the fascination for natural and eco-friendly products is that what is aiding the trend. To achieve heights in this initiative and to breathe new life in these textiles, Amazon India has collaborated with multiple State and Central government departments such as the Telangana government, UP Khadi and the Gujarat Tribal Development Department to promote handlooms and handicrafts. Amazon has already launched handicrafts and handlooms in most of the states across India, such as Boyanika and Resham Shilpi (handloom) in Orissa, APCO (handloom) and Lepakshi (handicraft) in Telangana, Priyadarshini, Cauvery Handlooms and Loomworld (handloom) in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

To enable rural Khadi artisans and to directly sell their products on the platform, Amazon India teamed up with Uttar Pradesh’s Khadi and Village Industries Board in February. Last October, to educate Khadi Societies and Village Industries across Kanpur, Varanasi, Ghaziabad and Lucknow, as part of a pilot project, Amazon India started conducting workshops in collaboration with the Khadi Board.

Amazon India is running a programme called 'Kala Haat' in its handloom category and around 1.50 lakh weavers and artisans across 15 States are using its marketplace to sell their products. To bring the rich heritage of handicrafts and handloom, Amazon has teamed up with over 1400 weavers, co-operatives, artisans and apparel export promotion bodies. Now, the e-commerce major showcases 40,000 genuine handloom and handicraft products sourced from over 20 states.