A cottage industry in the global market

  Silk Yarn Five and half years ago, a pilot project was launched to sellBhutanese handloom products globally by marketing them online. It was supposed to address the hurdles of relatively disadvantagedwomen in rural areas by bridging the gap between the actual productand its actual value in the international market. Today, the UNDP-funded US$ 206,000 project has wound up. How itfared is not known. Now, a new study has tried to analyse why Bhutanese textiles failedto sell in the global market. Lack of knowledge on how to makeproducts sell internationally has been cited as the main drawback.High cost and poor quality were other factors, according to thestudy, which took two and half months. Everyone says that our textiles are priced too high. But no oneactually knows why its so, said the culture and developmentcoordinator with the United Nations development programme (UNDP),Joseph Lo. The study did a production process and cost detail comparisonbetween Bhutan and Laos, which also has a strong hand weavingculture. Individual weavers, a handicraft company and a weavingcentre in Bhutan were asked to weave a Khaling silk piece. Weaversin Laos were asked to replicate the same. The individual weavers could not get the size right, the weavingcentre got the colour wrong and the handicraft company failed toget the quality right, whereas the pieces from Laos were close tothe original requirement in terms of colour, size and quality. And all the pieces made in Laos are cheaper than the ones made inBhutan, said Joseph Lo. Weaving tools make a huge difference, said a consultant from PhaengMai gallery, Laos, Ms Kongthong Nanthavongdouangsy. Weaving on ahandloom is quicker and also better for the weavers health.Weavers in Laos use handlooms while Bhutanese weavers use backstraplooms. Exploring silks from Bangladesh, China, India and Vietnam forimport, purchase on a wholesale basis, establishing a supply chainfor consistent supply of raw material, using hair shampoo insteadof detergent so that the silk fibre doesnt lose its shine,establish dying centres and upgrading yarn knowledge are some ofthe recommendations of the study. Bhutanese weavers, however, explain the reasons for high costs andlack of uniformity in their products. While importing, itsdifficult to get the same colour of yarns, transportation cost hasto be included and, if weavers are paid on an hourly basis, theydbe earning less than what they earn now, said the owner of aweaving centre that employs about 20 weavers, Kezang Lhendup. How much will you pay an hour if weavers can only weave aboutthree inches in that time? asks Kezang Lhendup. If we reduce theprice of our textiles, weavers would run into loss. UNDPs project fact sheet called Blending Traditional Crafts andInformation Technology to Benefit Rural Women, August 2007 statesthat, although the current environment was not found to beconducive for introducing e-business in Bhutan, the project wasable to achieve market access for handicrafts through thedevelopment of an interactive website at the Handicrafts Emporiumin Thimphu. It also stated that 45 rural weavers from Khoma and Radhi ineastern Bhutan were trained in combining traditional designs withcontemporary ones to suit market demands, and a yarn bank, wascreated to assist rural weavers to overcome problems in purchasingyarns. But the marketing officer at the handicrafts emporium, ThinleyJamtsho, said that they are still working on the interactivewebsite. We had some technical problem and didnt have ITpersonnel to work on the website. He said that, though creating a yarn bank was discussed duringmeetings, it has not taken off yet. The project was executed by thethen trade and industry ministry.