Indilisi - Creating a Handcrafted Future
As Craft becomes the global trend, as it must to help us slow down fashion production and redistribute wealth, transparency, paying living wages to artisans, and access to high-quality, locally grown, low-impact materials become critical to craft becoming a powerful movement for Change.
With three decades of work with craftspeople, we know their challenges can only be overcome through long-term partnerships with brands; funds cut from international development should be used to build capacity, working capital, and markets for artisanal products. Craft should lead the movement of sustainable fashion by helping artisans overcome the challenges craftspeople they face. And there are such rich, cultural learnings to be enjoyed by real partnerships between brands and craft groups.
Crochet Square Vest - Natural Corn - Hand-Crocheted in 100% Sheep Wool
According to Sophie Benson, Vogue Business: ‘brands from The Frankie Shop, Ganni, Asos and H&M have also embraced the language and aesthetic of handmade, particularly as techniques such as macrame and crochet have become sought-after trends’ as they cannot be made by machine. But customers need to be careful and critical about how products are really made - and where the producers are paid fairly.
Luxury brands are trying to draw customers back and are beginning to show imagery of craft used in the production of their products, which should be encouraged if it celebrates and acknowledges the maker. But like supermarkets use ‘Farm wash’ pretending that highly-industrialised products are grown and produced on a small, quaint farm, we must also be wary of ‘Craft Wash’. This shows up in the pretence that something is handmade when it is not, or in using images or small ranges of hand-crafted items when most of a product offer is mass-produced in factories.
It has also shown up with brands like Dior being called out for using AI in their communications with 6-fingered hand animations… ouch! How can they not have someone with a human brain in their marketing team that would spot this?
The Art of Making
Here in the UK, Oxfam’s 2026 State of Style research suggests that 78% of respondents say that it’s becoming harder to find clothes that feel individual. This clearly signals to brands that customers want distinctive, affordable products.
What excites us is how to bring craft and textile exceptional craft skills into contemporary styling and living, paying fair wages and strong partnerships that support product innovation and design and making small batches of clothing that will be treasured and cared for.
At Indilisi, we are excited to offer affordable, timeless clothing handwoven from 100% certified organic cotton by Swallows and DevTech in Bangladesh; handknitted clothing from Fair Trade group KTS in Nepal; and jewellery from Bombolulu Workshops in Kenya.
Crafting Low Carbon Futures
Craft is low carbon. Craft uses natural and biodegradable materials and is key to building a resilient circular economy. As we are more deeply impacted by climate breakdown, we need to support rural communities, fibre growers and artisans – and there are many examples that can be scaled.
The economic contribution and future potential of crafts, particularly in the Global South, are often underappreciated. For example, India’s handicrafts market reached US$3.9 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to US$6.2 billion by 2028.(1)
India exported handloom products worth US$229 million from April 2021 to February 2022.(2) Hand weaving is the second-largest employer in rural India, providing more than 3.5 million jobs for weavers and allied workers.(3)
As we work to reduce overproduction, Fair Trade crafts can help create dignified livelihoods for millions of people in the Global South while bringing beautiful, unique fashion and textiles to more people. They can also support certified smallholder organic cotton farmers, who are caring for our natural world.
Benefits of Craft production to Nature
Artisans and craft production are often rooted in rural communities, providing valuable livelihoods while helping preserve local cultures and ecosystems with a light environmental footprint.(4)
Supporting crafts helps sustain small-scale local cultures, where caring for the land is an integral part of daily life. Because craftspeople work closely with their materials and the places they come from, pollution and environmental damage can feel deeply personal. Artisans often have a strong connection to - and understanding of - the materials they use and the ecosystems that sustain them. Even amid the harsh new realities of climate change, craft production encourages artisans to care for the natural resources their livelihoods depend on. Their closeness to the land, along with their connection to past and future generations, makes renewing natural systems a natural part of the craft process.
Artisanal crafts promote circular economies. Craftspeople often use and reuse materials within a community, reducing waste and transportation emissions, and fostering principles of the circular economy and environmental sustainability. (6) Their ability to turn natural materials into useful, meaningful and valued objects that can be repaired or remade keeps those materials and objects in use.
Social Benefits
Traditional crafts provide dignified work in rural areas that has personal and cultural meaning. For female artisans in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, handweaving cotton and silk, hand embroidery, and hand-knitting frequently fit around home and agricultural work, helping local, low-impact communities to survive and enabling people to stay close to their families and roots.
Craft promotes a New Economy
The craft process and the close human connection to garments created this way can add intrinsic value to products. In a world in which we need to produce less, but of higher quality, craft enables small runs of unique and beautiful things. Their tactile qualities, and knowledge of the human input and care taken to produce them can add to their perceived value and emotional durability.
(1) The British Council & Fashion Revolution India (2023) Craft in the Age of Climate Crisis.
(2) Ministry of Textiles, India (2019–20) Fourth all India Handloom Census.
(3) The British Council & Fashion Revolution India (2023) Craft in the Age of Climate Crisis. In the Craft in the Age of the Climate Crisis report
(4,6) Craft Industry and the Circular Economy (2022) World Crafts Council.
(5) Ibid.