"Revive ancient sustainable fabric-making methods in portable handloom by creating 5000 Skillful artisans by 2025."
This is the Mission of Raatai, the manufacturer of DIY portable handlooms. And the taker of this bold step? A woman named Kalaiyarasi who has learned to face life head-on and stand on her own two feet. Else there is no other way to live and thrive, let alone run a business. She had a vision and she decided to go out into the world and achieve it.
Her goal was to empower handloom weaving by reaching conscious clothing to a new-age society.
Born and brought up in Kavindapadi, Erode district, Tamil Nadu, Kalaiyarasi did her MCA. After her 2nd maternity leave, Kalaiyarasi had to face several difficult situations in her hometown. Young girls below the age of 18 being illegally married off - The girls were poor. Their families, who were into weaving, were stricken by the troubles of hand-to-mouth living. In such a situation, they found it easier to marry off their daughters rather than let them pursue their education and a legitimate career.
This situation disturbed Kalaiyarasi a lot and gave her sleepless nights. It also made her pay more attention to these traditional industries and how they were being exploited in smaller villages. Her aim to become a businesswoman was looking like more of a necessity than a desire.
So she set off on a path of conducting proper in-depth research. She started getting more knowledge in the weaving and handloom industry. She decided to make things better even if it meant travelling 100km every day to get the work done.
Her long commute gave her one advantage though. During the space of this daily trip, she came across many people who knew about handloom weaving but were not ready to teach their methods. It was a pure display of the knowledge-hoarding tendency in human beings.
But Kalaiyarasi was not disappointed. She decided to normalize natural and organic products in day-to-day life. And bringing the power of profits and revenue to a rudimentary thought process. She decided to showcase to the users that weaving is not just for a single strata or age group - it is for everyone.
And that’s how Raatai came to life.
Today, her company is working on organic DIY portable handlooms. Raatai uses handlooms, naturally dyed and undyed high-quality yarns, and handloom fabrics. And she realizes every day that the struggle has not ended. It has just begun.
Her goal is to not only provide opportunities to work but also bring weaving back to life. And that can be a challenge sometimes because she is on her own. There are many who have tried to take advantage of the fact that she is a woman entrepreneur - sometimes trying to fool her by doubling the prices of the material and selling her items priced far beyond the market rate.
Her path was laden with non-believers who had the age-old notion that a woman without a man is nothing. And the journey was not easy either. It was very difficult especially when in the beginning there was no support from her family. They thought she was making a wrong decision by quitting her high-paying job and starting something completely new and challenging.
But Kalaiyarasi was changing lives - and she wasn't going to give up. She learned from her mistakes. She was a one-man army who not only started this business on her own but made it happen and helped those farmers as well by giving them work and paying them well.
When they saw her fighting every day with the same enthusiasm and getting them formidable results, they realized their mistake and finally supported her.
During this journey, she met some great people as well who became her mentors.
She is supported by Villgro, one of India's pioneering social enterprise incubators under TANSEED 3.0 - A grant Program by the Tamil Nadu Startup And Innovation Mission (TANSIM). She is also the winner of a grant worth Rs. 10 lakhs from StartupTN which perhaps is the biggest push Kalaiyarasi needed to propel her ambitions forward.
The business, of course has changed her and her family's life. Her two kids are her backbone. They are her strong pillars of support. Her husband and her parents have gone beyond their limits to stand by her.
The biggest achievement for her? Her kids can identify the difference between organic and chemical products and support natural products like their mother.
Kalaiyarasi's vision is to create 5000 weaving artisans by 2025. She wants to introduce the handloom weaving industry to all of India and the world. Her pre-orders have begun flowing in already.
According to her, problems are always going to be there. It is reality, one just has to accept it and continue working on these roadblocks instead of running away from them. Her problems have become her strength which made her more hardworking and dedicated.
She has made this her tagline when she talks to someone about her business: Be aware of the clothes you wear. Don’t buy something because it is cheap or good in colour. Try to find organic clothing which benefits you as well as those who are making them. Support handloom weaving industries so that we can help farmers and weavers and support them.
Always think of the Next Step. That's not called Overthinking, its called Planning Ahead.
Kalaiyarasi
Founder, Raatai
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