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In the urban slums of Salwe Nagar, Yerwada, 10 women came together to make masks during the pandemic to earn a living when their husbands were jobless. Soon, the women ventured into other fashion markets and the sustainable method of up-cycling for new business opportunities. The 10 Stitch Fashion Studio, an initiative of the Youth Aid Foundation, organised a fashion show at The High Spirits Cafe on Wednesday.
The gender-inclusive fashion show was the fruition of the work and dedication put in by the women to work towards their self-emancipation. The fashion show also displayed the tribal handicrafts and artwork of the Warli tribe of Palghar, the Madiya and the Gondi tribes of Gadchiroli, the Gond and Banjara tribes from Yavatmal, the Pawara tribes from Nandurbar and the zari work pieces by artisans from Bhopal.
With support from the Centre for Youth Development and Activities (CYDA) and YouthAid Foundation, the women were armed with resources such as tailoring machines as well as knowledge of business acumen under the guidance of the members of the YouthAid Foundation. The 10 Stitch Fashion Studio currently runs from a small space in Yerwada and is named after the first 10 women.
“Most of them have not been to a city before and to walk so confidently like that in such a new and unfamiliar environment was admirable. Through this, we also wanted to show that fashion shows should not be restricted to people from affluent parts of the society’s mainstream fashion industry but should expand to villages, tribal areas, small towns and slums. We want to organise such cultural events outside the country,” said Mathew Mattam, founder & secretary at the CYDA and founder & chairperson, YouthAid Foundation.
Rian Khorana, programme executive and content writer at 10 Stitch Fashion Studio said the women had never gone out of the four walls of their homes and the pandemic compelled them to pick up work. “These are women coming from homes where they are not even allowed to go out to the market and after the pandemic took away their husband’s jobs, they started to make masks. YouthAid Foundation works primarily to instil skills of entrepreneurship among the marginalised and that is how we got to know about these women. As the pandemic led to a demand for masks, these women made about 2 lakh masks. The women had found a new purpose of having their own standing in society and wanted to do more,” he said.
The team took designer Arshada Akmal Ansari on onboard to spearhead the vision the women had for themselves. “Just like these women, even I was once not allowed to venture out that often. So, it was a brave step for them to go out and earn. It took some time for their spouses to have a better understanding of their potential…,” she said.
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