India has over 10 million weavers and artisans, and most of them have been severely impacted due to the lockdown, resulting in a loss of livelihood. To help the weavers and artisans associated with them to sell their products, GoCoop has an ongoing ‘Go Swadeshi Online’ handloom exhibition on gocoop.com till May 27.
Madhavi Naidu, Business Head of GoCoop, says, “Throughout the lockdown, production was happening, and weavers had stocks piled up with them. Since it was not possible to sell the products offline, we decided to provide them the much-needed marketing support. The website was already there, so we uploaded the sellers and their products.”
On offer is a variety of hand-spun, hand-woven and handcrafted products such as sarees, fabrics, dress materials, stoles, dupattas, menswear, bed linen, home decor and jewellery, from weavers and artisans across the country. From the exquisite Uppada sarees of Andhra Pradesh to Molakalmooru silk saris of Karnataka, vibrant Jamdanis and Tangail sarees from Bengal to the subtle elegance of Maheshwaris and Chanderis, the collection has a lot of options. These products are from 60 sellers, many of them being National award winners.
About delivering the orders, Naidu says, “When we receive an order, we pass it on to the sellers, so that they can ship it. Also, we are particular about the authenticity of the products and the artisans, which is why we have a wide customer base. We have received over 300 orders till now. There have been requests from buyers to extend it. So, we may extend it by three days.”
GoCoop has won the National Award for e-marketing of handloom. It has organised 70 offline exhibitions in the last four years. “Our motive is to help weavers and master weavers earn their livelihood in this time of distress. The initiative is in line with the PM’s mantra of ‘Vocal for Local’,” adds Naidu.