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In a village in Salwe Nagar, Yerwada town, 10 women have come together to make masks to earn a living while their husbands are unemployed. Soon, the women embarked on a sustainable cycling journey to other fashion markets and new business opportunities. 10 Stitch Fashion Studio, an initiative of Youth Aid Foundation, organized a fashion show at High Speeds Cafe on Wednesday.
The gender inclusive fashion show is the fruit of the hard work and dedication the women have put in to emancipate themselves. The fashion show also showcased ethnic arts and crafts from Warli tribe of Palgar, Madhya and Gondi tribes of Gadchiroli, Gond and Banjara tribes from Yavatmal, Pawara tribe from Nandurbar and Zari work from Bhopal artisans.
Led by members of the Youth Aid Foundation, the women were equipped with resources such as sewing machines with the support of the Center for Youth Development and Activities (CIDA) and the UtAID Foundation. 10 Stitch Fashion Studio currently operates from a small space in Yerwada and is named after the first 10 women.
“Most of them had never been to a city before and it was amazing to walk confidently in such a new and unfamiliar environment. In this way, we want to show that fashion shows should be spread to villages, tribal areas, small towns and slums, not just the rich people from the main fashion industry of the society. We want to organize such cultural events outside the country,” said Mathew Mattam, founder and secretary of CYDA and founder and chairman of Uaid Foundation.
Ryan Khorana, program executive and content writer at 10 Stitch Fashion Studio, said the women have never left the four walls of their homes and the pandemic has forced them to choose work. “These are women who come from homes where they are not even allowed to go out to the market, and after the epidemic took their husband’s job, they started wearing masks. YouthAid Foundation mainly works to inculcate entrepreneurship skills among the marginalized and this is how we came to know about these women. As the pandemic created a demand for masks, these women made nearly 2,000 masks. “The women have found a new purpose and want to do more to make their place in the society,” he said.
The team took designer Arshada Akmal Ansari on board to guide the vision the women had for themselves. “Like these women, even I was never allowed to go out that long. So, going out and monetizing it was a bold move for them. It took some time for their spouses to have a better understanding of their potential…” she says.
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