Summary:

After the success of the Sustainable Textiles project in India, we launched ‘Going Green’,
a new initiative that will continue and expand this work. It will help poor textile artisans and
workers in northern India to improve their incomes and protect the environment at the
same time. But it’s not easy, especially for small enterprises, individual textile artisans and
workers who struggle to make their voice heard and achieve economies of scale.

That’s why Going Green is working hard to bring artisans and workers together – so they
can work collectively in organised groups. From there they can receive training, access
new markets and government services together - helping each other to run profitable, eco-
friendly businesses. About 62,500 people are benefiting from this project.

This project is generously supported by the European Commission, as well grant-making

trusts and individuals.

Background:
Textile production is a vital part of India’s economy, providing employment for some of its
poorest people. But it’s a competitive industry. If you are a small-scale, marginalised textile
producer, there are 35 million others like you trying to make a living. Many are individual
artisans, marginalised by being women or members of tribal groups. Living in extreme
poverty, they lack access to basic services such as healthcare, water, housing and
sanitation and they are exposed to occupational hazards such as the handling of toxic
chemicals.

The textile industry is notorious for its negative environmental impacts, such as the
excessive consumption of water and pollution of water courses. But, enmeshed in a daily
battle for survival, and lacking awareness, knowledge and resources, it is little wonder that
individuals and small companies producing textiles fail to adopt eco-friendly production
practices. How can they invest in the environment when they struggle even to feed their
families or pay their staff?
The Project:
Traidcraft’s Going Green project aims to help textile artisans and small enterprises in six
districts in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to escape poverty by strengthening their
businesses, and to improve their working conditions and their impact on the environment.

A single artisan, working alone, is extremely vulnerable to exploitation and unexpected

setbacks. But by bringing these artisans together we can increase their resilience as they
learn to support each other and work together to improve their businesses. We’ll organise
over 12,000 artisans and 250 enterprises into at least 150 collectives. We’ll also set up
district-level federations to give textile workers a voice, so they can assert their rights and
access resources previously unavailable to them, such as public services and government
benefits if applicable.

With the artisans organised into collectives, it’s much easier for them to access training
and services together. They will be trained in sound business skills to help them run their
businesses successfully, but the project also help them to ‘go green’ - teaching them to
design and develop products using sustainable raw materials, to use natural dyeing
practices and other processes, and helping them conserve natural resources such as
water and energy.

Making textile artisan’s products more eco-friendly greatly enhances their competitiveness,
and further helps to reinforce their business resilience. In order to capitalise on this we are
working with our local partner, to add environmental standards to a ‘Craftmark’ label they
already run to prove that textile products are handmade. We’ll promote this label to
consumers, retailers and media outlets so that poor and marginalised artisans have a
route to market for their eco-friendly and handmade textiles. This is a real incentive for
artisans to improve their environmental practices because they know they will be rewarded
with premium prices for their eco-friendly products.

The Benefits:
Going Green has been designed from a position of strength. Traidcraft has long
experience of working with textile businesses so we know what works well. The last
textiles project we ran in India brought hope to over 9,000 thousand artisans and gave
them the skills they needed to escape poverty. This project will benefit about 62,500
people by helping the increase their income and improve their health and wellbeing.