Woollen products using Natural dyes for fair trade

Himalayan Weavers produces hand-woven shawls, stoles, scarves and throws using only natural dyes and hand-spun wool, eri silk and pashmina. We are interested in selling to whole sellers and retailers who deal with eco-friendly products and practice fair trade. www.himalayanweavers.org

The company was set up by Ghayur and Patricia Alam in 2005. The company's objectives include: produce high quality hand-made textile products, popularize the use of environmentally friendly natural dyes and provide a market for craft products made in the Himalayan region.

Himalayan Weavers' products are different from other similar products: Firstly, all its products are environmentally friendly as they are made using only natural fabrics and natural dyes. The dyeing is done in-house and the company guarantees that its products do not contain any chemical colours. The company uses a number of naturally occurring materials, most of which are plants. These include madder, tesu, indigo, amla, pomegranate, harad, henna and lac.

Secondly, a part of the yarn used by Himalayan Weavers is hand spun. This gives a very special soft feel and also provides increased employment opportunity for local people.

All the products are hand-woven.

The company works with about 20 local people, 11 of whom belong to the "Bhotia" and "shilpkar" tribal communities. These people have a long tradition of working with wool, making blankets and carpets for personal use. The company began with the objective of providing greater access to market for their products. However, it soon realized that though interesting, these products could not have a large market in the urban areas; made with coarse wool, they were rough against the skin. Also, the colours and designs were very limited and did not attract fashion conscious urban buyers. This realization led to a closer involvement of the company in the designing and production activities. The emphasis has been on making the products lighter, softer and colourful. This has been achieved by the introduction of natural dyes, better sourcing and grading of wool and introducing new product range and designs.

In addition to sheep wool products, Himalayan Weavers also make pashmina shawls. The company procures raw Pashmina from the famous Changthang valley (height: 4500 mts.), boardering Tibet in Ladakh. This is hand spun in Dunda village of Uttarkashi district and woven into beautiful and soft shawls, stoles and scarves.

We have a shop 8 kilometers from Mussoorie on the Mussoorie-Dhanaulti Road.