At HOWS, we take upcycling very seriously. Our entire range of signature scarves and necklaces are based on the concept of taking something old, worn out, stained and loaded with hidden stories from its past life, and re-imagining it in an entirely new form.
Join us on a tour through our value chain as we demonstrate how far one sari can go through the process of upcycling!
upcycle
ˈʌpsʌɪk(ə)l/
verb
gerund or present participle: upcycling
1. reuse (discarded objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original.
One
Our story starts with sourcing pre-loved silk saris. These come replete with tears, holes, stains and decades of an earlier life in someone's wardrobe. We select each sari based on its colour, print, pattern and texture. Its reincarnation as one of our products is just another step in its well-travelled existence.
It's worth noting that this tradition of bartering off old saris is an old one. While saris are most often kept for decades, or handed down to people close to the family (such as servants), used or old pieces (saris as well as other clothing) can also be sold to a 'bhandiwali'. 'Bhandi' means utensils in Hindi. A bhandiwali will make her rounds of one particular area on a regular basis. When a woman wants to trade her used sari, she calls out to the bhandiwali who will come to her home and scrutinize all the clothes; the ones she thinks can be recycled will be traded for steel utensils; cups, pots, pans or ladles depending on the condition of the clothing she takes. She then sells them to vendors who buy either to sell them on the roadside or recycle to make new clothes, bags or just fabric.
We source the saris from a community of Gujarati sari traders in Delhi. These sari traders themselves source the saris from a network of bhandiwalis who travel across India, buying and bartering goods for old saris, village by village and house by house.
Woman in a sari. Image Steve McCurry.
Sourcing vintage saris in Delhi.
Two
Saris are cleaned and carefully checked for all defects. Working with pre-loved textiles takes an enormous amount of time in terms of quality control. Where possible, we cut the saris into pieces sized to make our Kantha Scarves and Shawls. If a section of sari has too many defects to make into these larger kantha products, it flows to the next step in our upcycling process.