BENGALURU: A group of weavers in the state will soon be able to interact with major national and international clothing brands after an app is launched by a city-based startup. Fabric Monde helps small scale producers, self-help groups, and handloom co-operative societies connect with large brands.

“We aggregate fabrics made by small-scale produces in tier-2, tier-3 cities and villages, and use technology to connect them with clothing brands,” said Jyothirmayi D, co-founder of Fabric Monde. “We are working with 25 weaver groups in Karnataka,” she added.

Last year, Sachin Tendulkar’s Trueblue brand of shirts took a liking to the cotton handloom fabric created by women weavers, who are part of Charaka Cooperative Society in Heggodu village, Sagar taluk. They use natural dyes made from plants such as arecanuts, eucalyptus and indigo.

Fabric Monde first gathers an idea of the brand’s catalogue and brief, and works with weavers to customise the fabric according to its requirement. The startup, launched in 2017 by Jyothirmayi, Hemalatha K and Ranjith J N, was incubated by Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and supported by the state government’s Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science and Technology department.

The B2B platform has connected over 10,000 designs created by small-scale weavers from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu to brands such as Raymond, Lee, Wrangler, and Louis Philippe.

“We have created an app through which weavers upload the fabric and the brands can view them on the website or app, filtering out their requirements as per various categories, such as Kalamkari, handblock print, Khadi, Bagh and Bagru,” Jyothirmayi said, adding, “We then work with the weavers to get it customised before getting it into production. The website also includes technology where brands can view the fabric in 3D.” The app is expected to be launched by the month-end on Android Play Store.