Fiona McAlpine, Sharna de Lacy and Katie Rose- three Australian women who initiated the project "The Fabric Social."
They were international development and community workers and also lawyers with experience in Australia and abroad on the humanitarian project. The Fabric Social aims to help women in insecure geographical areas to break out of their poverty cycles by offering them an opportunity to establish economic independence.
They also seek to keep weaving traditions alive in a sustainable manner and advocates zero-waste designs and production methods.
Founders Katie, Sharna and Fi met in India. They were working in women's rights movement, with women who experienced violence or women affected by conflict and poverty. They were the part of a pretty good project, but they found watched vast swathes of money wash through departments and programs and witnessed reams of paper printed into the world, calling out all government and corporate pasties on their ways. But there was little change for people on the ground in grassroots communities, which is where they preferred to work.
So they decided to create their work because there was the need for social enterprise in development. There was the need to introduce the trade between the countries whether they were affected by the conflict or not. Build industry, build capacity and bridge those link between the isolated places and share resources- they wanted to bridge the gap. Second of all, they wanted to work with conflict-affected women because there was the most need.
Because the NorthEast is not conflicted zone, they decided to work there and economically empower the head of the household which is always a mom. And they thought they would break the poverty conflict cycle. They consider it was also an excellent mission to keep world peace.
The trio then went on to understand the issues faced by women in conflict-affected areas and started The Fabric Social. They came to know about the traditional skills of embroidery, weaving with the women artisans.
The Fabric Social brought on board designers Ally, who advocates and works towards zero-waste designs and sustainable fashion. She works with the natural fabrics from the state of Assam and brings a contemporary touch to the classic designs of North-east India.
Through working with other smaller NGOs and Social Enterprises, The Fabric Social brings together the communities in the states of Assam, Mizoram, and the city of Kolkata to create a sustainable and transparent supply chain that commits to the ethics of fair wages and safe working conditions.
