Kilmora

Kilmora

Ensures fair living wage for producers

Discloses the community being impacted

Reduces the environmental impact

Focusses on women producers

Created using handcrafted methods

Reduces/Reuses/
Recycles resources

Made out of responsible materials

Avoids use of chemicals or toxic materials

Biodegradable or environment friendly

Uses portion of proceeds to give back to the community

Kilmora is Kumaun Grameen Udyog’s (KGU) product brand. KGU works on sustainable livelihoods in rural Kumaon in the Uttarakhand Himalayas. KGU works with close to 600 farmers and over 425 artisans. KGU’s product range includes crafts and agri-produce. KGU produces hand-woven items such as shawls, stoles, scarves, and fabric.

Purpose

KGU's vision is to create an efficient enterprise – based on the principles of equity and collective action – that will provide sustainable livelihood opportunities to artisans and small farmers in rural Kumaon, provide consumers with 'quality' products at a reasonable price, and reinvest its surplus in the health and education of rural families. Kilmora works towards solving some of the biggest issues facing the area, namely lack of employment opportunities and the consequent migratory patterns. Kilmora addresses these by providing sustainable livelihoods in the area.

People

KGU works with over 425 artisans, most of whom are women and its work directly benefits the community. Artisans are paid on a per-piece basis that ensures them a fair wage. For the weavers, the substantial round-the-year incomes they earn enable them to think of better futures for their children. For many of the women knitters– their independent incomes give them greater control over their lives – KGU has enabled this by encouraging the women artisans to open bank accounts in their name and their earnings are deposited directly into those accounts.

Planet

KGU has introduced some environment-friendly practices like rainwater harvesting at its office, the introduction of washing hand-woven items with soap nut, move towards preservative-free products at the agri unit. Further, no chemicals are used in the grains, herbs, or spices we procure and market. Waste knitting and weaving yarn is reused and waste pulp is used as animal feed. For some packaging, the use of pine needles and repurposed boxes has been introduced.