The handloom is a traditional craft work of India and it provides employment opportunities to lakhs of people in the rural and urban areas of our country. In this ratio, women have a significant share of more than 70%. The handloom weaving has been a household profession since ages. Mostly, it goes unnoticed in this area because this practice has mostly been in-house or house-cum-work sheds. In the manufacturing sector, the idea constitutes of women weaving for women.

According to 2013 Handloom Census, majority of women weavers are born and brought up in traditional families of weavers. Since a very young age, they get involved in the art of dying, printing, weaving, embroidering and embellishing fabrics and garments. It gives them a sense of responsibility towards the family even if the job is always back-end. Limelight is something they are made to stay away from in this business. Even if their work is supremely fine, the craft will always be appreciated towards their owners and not them. The women are enlisted primarily as housewives who assist men, hence are secondary workers.

At Uppada Sarees, for aspiring women entrepreneurs and weavers, we have been holding several training programs from past 5 years to not only provide them with the freedom of earning their own bread but also facilitate them with a sense of belongingness and recognition for the hard work they put in.

To celebrate, support, and empower the women of today, we train them in several kinds of crafts such as Jamdani weaving, Kalamkari art, Embroidery and Embellishing work and so on. The idea to train women weavers is to acknowledge them for keeping the heritage tradition of Indian handloom alive and promote this to the forthcoming population so that it is carried from generations to generations.

Uppada Sarees caters women-centric products, adding to the vast working force in the company is of women, thereby, being circled around women we have been able to identify the blind spots of their problems and tried our best hand at serving the finest products and comfortable working experience to Uppada Sarees customers and employees respectively. It has not only helped our company in growing but also being able to move with the market competitively. Our women weavers are truest in their handicraft and create the products with the highest of authenticity.

Often times, we have entry level women weavers whose passions are ardent but they lack fine tailoring. To support and strengthen their hand we have worked with Central Government in the ‘Samarth Scheme’ that enables root level training, that is, training women in frame looms. It walks the trainees through the entire process of making a handloom saree or fabric on their own. It reduces the dependency and empowers them to create their own line of products if someday they do not wish their work to be identified by somebody else’s label. In literal words, giving women the wings to fly!

In the ancient India, handloom weaving for women has always been a part time hobby. Considering the family needs, woman of the family extended the financial help by doing this in their free time after finishing off the household chores. Normally in this model of work, they used to take two days to finish a saree and about a very tiny amount in the sale of it. It is how women have formed and been the backbone of this industry.

At Uppada Sarees, we understand the women that come to work with us have family formalities to fulfil and cannot spare the entire day at work. With resources, we have been able to help them in balancing work and house chores without compromising in the quality of production of Sarees and also literate them with finance management. Currently, we are training them under Government Agencies like NABARD and DRDA in the Skill Development Program. The program in Narayanpet perfects them in Kalamkari Art, an ancient style of hand painting that is done with a tamarind pen, using natural dyes. After the successful completion of the program, we are offering them full time employment with job security and added benefits. This enables them to be an independent artist as well as apply their skills and train their hand while working with us!

India is a country with rich heritage and handicrafts. Having vast variety of handwoven and handcrafted art, it is a country of dedicated and devoted artisans. With women being such talented ethnical artisans, it has been possible to keep the craft alive from so many years. At Uppada Sarees, we always promise to empower our women and globally promote our art!