Mumbai-based Nisha Castelino and Francis D’Costa’s decision to start Salsette Collection LLP in 2020 was a result of their years of exposure to handlooms and artisans and also their desire to make the fabric popular and affordable. Notwithstanding the brakes put on due to Covid-19, the company is now slowly making its way to ensure that handloom is making its presence felt across the country through exhibitions.
Both Castelino and D’Costa have had their exposure to fabrics, handloom and artisans and hence they decided to form the company out of their desire to make handloom accessible. Both the founders had travelled to Kutch in Gujarat and their desire was to work with ‘kala’ cotton. This indigenous rain-fed cotton is grown in the dry Kutch region. “The fabric is not as soft as say Jamdani but is breathable – a feature which makes the fabric unique,” said Castelino.
Working closely with fair trade groups and artisans, the company managed to set up the whole value chain necessary from the procurement of yarn to the final product. “We realised that the artisans who fashion the yarn into finished products have tonnes of knowledge about their traditional designs. It would not be wise to ask them to retrain themselves and instead of re-inventing the wheel we just worked around the given framework,” she said. This involved usage of subdued colours and less-crowd motifs. “Many of our products are white on white and even when we use colours they are muted,” she explained.
When the company started, Covid forced all their plans to be shelved. “We spent the year finishing our legal formalities and putting the finishing touches on the designs,” she said. Once Covid subdued, the company started the process of production and slowly in the years 2021 and 2022 they started their operations.
At present, the company works with artisans from Gujarat, West Bengal, Nagaland and Assam. Castelino confided they would soon collaborate with artisans from Odisha. Most of the work is done with fair trade groups and artisans’ consortiums which allows them to keep the purity of the raw materials and ensure that direct benefit is passed on to the artisans. The artisans, Castelino said, require continuous work and thus their pipeline has to be always full. “We started with a lead time of three months but now we have gone up to six months of work. Our aim is to ensure nine months of lead to the artisans,” she said. Artisans developed trust in the company as they were assured payments even when the company was low in liquid funds.
The ubiquitous stole designed by the firm has turned to be a big hit given its versatility and economy.
The product, much to the surprise of the founders, found good acceptance among consumers of all age groups. For many in the younger generation this was the first exposure to the world of handlooms. Castelino talked about men lapping up the stole which was a revelation to them. “Some use the stole to saddle their babies, some as fabric for further development. The breathable nature of the fabric has found many takers,” she said. Most of the sales now are from pop up stores which the company puts up in exhibitions. Plans are afoot to develop an ecommerce platform also.
