Kritikala, a Hyderabad clothing label powered by women artisans

How Hyderabad-based handloom label Kritikala provides livelihoods to women artisans, using ikat, kalamkari and Mangalagiri cotton

The Kritikala store at Shaikpet, Hyderabad, is the face of a collective of enterprising women who design garments and products using ikat, kalamkari and Mangalagiri cotton sourced from craft clusters in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Displayed on the racks and stacked on the shelves are garments for women seeking fashion and comfort. The store stays true to the ethos of the non-profit organisation that the label has emerged from — Kriti Social Initiatives.

The women who have tailored the garments on display, embellished with Lambadi embroidery, hail from low-income group households and have been trained in garment making and tailoring by the organisation. They also work on bulk orders for corporate gifts and delegate bags for large events. Also displayed on the shelves are lac bangles made by women artisans as part of a project named Pehchaan (identity).

Handloom garments and accessories are among the organisation’s several focus areas over the last few years. Kriti social enterprise set up its production units with the help of Telangana State Minority Finance Corporation in the form of industrial tailoring machines that ensure good finish for the products. Kritikala was formally established in 2018, says Himani Gupta, director of the label who co-founded Kriti Social Initiatives (KSI) with Sreelata Chebrol.

Himani recalls that while launching the label, the idea was to tread on the path of sustainability in sourcing handlooms that use vegetable dyes, designing products that benefit the women who work on it as well as weaver clusters and are easy on the pockets for the buyers.

Most garments are priced under ₹2,000 and some under ₹3,000. “We find more takers for garments priced in the ₹1,500 to ₹1,800 bracket than those priced over ₹2,000,” says Shristy Kumari, a NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Design) alumnus who heads the design and production. 

The label primarily works with cottons for daily wear and rolls out a smaller collection in Chanderi silks for the winter-festive season. Plans are also on to design garments using ajrakh, bagru and other block print materials. “We want to gauge the response and then step up production,” says Shristy.