Small town’s big buzz

Rurban’ Palamu was back of her mind when Sweta Anand landed at New York in the US with her engineer husband and management degree from XISS in hand. Soon she got placed into prestigious Wall Street Investment Banking Firm – Morgan Stanley—as a customer relationship manager.

Life was full of affluence, but something was missing from inside, which she located as her passion to do her bit for poor artisans who weave beautiful silky lives of others’ at the cost of their own.

“It hurt me when I saw people selling anything in the name of Indian handloom, ethnic linen in the US while real men and women behind the exhaustive weaving exercise back home in Jharkhand-Bihar are getting pennies in return. Due to some family compulsions we were forced to return to India, but by then an idea had taken birth,” Sweta Anand narrates her success story which has now transformed into ‘Aprudha Fashion Private Limited’.

The firm derived the name from Goddess ‘Durga’ meaning the ‘one that never turns old’ is now engaged with numerous weavers of Bhagalpur’ silk belt and also from Jharkhand to meet the growing demand of silk, meenal and other hand-woven sarees not only from the US but also here in the country.

“When I was in the US, I often wore these handmade sarees and used to gift to our local friends there. They were fond of these items. When we came back our friends kept asking for these genuine products. The idea to go global with a brand and taking the artisans on board clicked in our minds. We both are tech-savvy, which allowed us to go for an e-platform,” she added sharing the details of the firm’s ‘facebook’ page besides the website.

‘Aprudha Sarees’ is also in talks with the ‘Jharcarft’, Jharkhand Government’s initiative to promote local artisans and silk producers to provide the required materials and products to the company. “Jharkhand produces 60 per cent of entire tussar silk of the country. If it is done properly with all desired technical and marketing support then tussar silk produces, collectors, weavers and other concerned artisans can benefit immensely. We are looking to work with the agency and have had consultations in this regard,” she said.  

Started a couple of years back the brand is selling around 100-150 sarees of Kanchipuram, Banarsi, Paithini, Jamdani etc in a month. Best part is that unlike exploitative business models existing all over, substantial share into profit goes to the poor weavers.

“Middleman often ate a major share of the profits leaving the weavers poor. We turned it around. That is why besides customers we are getting good response from weavers and artisans who are very much willing to join the platform,” said Sweta.

Very soon ‘Aprudha Fashion’ wants to establish as brand and make it global success. Plans are ready to enhance product line with options of clothing beyond sarees. “Stalls, kurtis, dupattas etc of pure and organic fabric filled with one of the oldest art depicting the rich culture of India are always going to be special. I want to work directly with weavers so they don’t have to compromise with the quality. Also most of the models promoting the items are our users and not professionals who also share their experience on the website. ‘Aprudha’ is for empowering,” sums up Sweta.