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Meet The Clothing Brand Empowering Women in India to Escape the Sex Trade
Source: Good
Actress America Ferrera meets the artisan women of Anchal.
It's estimated that between 2 to 3 million India women are commercial sex workers. Born into poor families, girls as young as 12—many with mothers already in the sex industry—are initiated into this trade as a means of survival. They are often forced to drop out of school, and, in essence, society. As a result of their lack of education, they can spend a lifetime at the mercy of clients, pimps, and, in worst case scenarios, their own failing health. Economic need, familial coercion, or simply a lack of employment options in remote areas can often force women into this type of sexual slavery—creating a cycle that can feel unbreakable. While there are several India-based NGOs that seek to help these women, their numbers are overwhelming. Anchal, a Louisville, KY-based clothing line that provides textile careers to commercial sex workers by partnering with groups like Anoothi/Vatsalya in Ajmer, Rajasthan and New Light in Kolkata, West Bengal it helps these women find alternative ways of creating capital and gaining new skills.
Anchal began in 2009 when RISD graduate student Colleen Clines attended a seminar exploring design in the developing world. This experience inspired her to travel to India, where she realized that she could change lives through direct action. She decided to fuse her creative skills with social entrepreneurship, and Anchal was conceived. Since 2009, Clines has helped more than 100 women start careers in textile and design, and facilitated training in everything from dyeing and sewing to graphics.
Anchal’s first ready-to-wear collection, Living in Color, launching October 2015, is just the latest in a string of successful projects Clines has facilitated. Previously she spearheaded the Didi (meaning “sisterhood” in Hindi) Connection, a collaboration with actress America Ferrera that was a precursor to Living in Color. She has also received grants from Dining for Women, and a Google Global Impact Award--which allowed Anchal to triple in size. In 2014 Clines clocked in at number 18 on Public Interest Design’s Global 100, an illustrious list of entrepreneurs using “design and service for development purposes.”
The Living in Color collection is slightly different from past garments she’s conceived. It’s fabric are made from vintage saris that have been sustainably and organically dyed in teals, purples, pinks, blacks and greys by Anchal’s artisans. Afterwards they are intricately quilted together with a traditional running stitch known as kantha. “Quilt-making is the medium through which we instigate, collaborate, and facilitate economic and personal transformation for the commercial sex workers involved in the project,” Clines explains. “When we were conceptualizing the new collection, we wanted the challenges our artisans overcome to be tangible. With continued use of vintage saris and the addition of overdyeing, we can honor another Indian textile tradition and explore new unique goods that give incredible impact these brave women.”
Read more: http://magazine.good.is/articles/meet-the-clothing-brand-thats-empowering-women-in-india
8 replies
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How could you not feel good in them?!
for the tops to be on sale. Me favorite tops have been kurtas, but they aren't easy to find. And yes, it's like returning to my hippy days. 
