Artisan Hut, Bangladesh
The highly skilled, traditional handweavers of Bangladesh are being put out of work by the demand for cheap, fast fashion. When the only priority is to get the garment from the design board to the shop floor in 6 weeks, handweavers cannot compete with the power looms which increase productivity by up to nine times.
This thousands of hand weavers have been left unemployed and they are forced to leave their homes to take on backbreaking work pulling rickshaws or working in factories in cities.
Artisan Hut was founded to deal with this crisis; it employs low income producers in rural areas of Bangladesh. They are paid up to 100% more than they'd earn in the commercial sector, and traditional hand skills such as handweaving, spinning, block printing and hand embroidery are favoured in order to maximise employment.
When her husband became ill in 1997 Asma Begun, a weaver who started working for Artisan Hut to support her three children. She says:
"Because of Fair Trade we are paid higher wages, have a good working environment, a community workshop and even a scholarship for our children. I never thought business people could think for their workers in this way. Thank you to People Tree and their customers who are promoting Fair Trade business and bringing a better life to people like me."
Read Safia's blog to find out more about Artisan Hut.
