How Sari For Change Seeks To Empower Unemployed Women
How Sari For Change Seeks To Empower Unemployed Women. Sari for Change has been riding the shift in the fashion industry for six years with a single focus on sustainable production through people, planet and profit.
A Sari for Change product tells a pay it forward story of generosity and gifts from a grandmother, aunt or mother who has donated her traditional bridal garments to this South African cause for the value and worth of the Sari to be transformed into a modern garment that bears semblance to the original sari…a sari that carries weight and years of tradition and energy. A call to individuals to donate their gently worn saris for remaking and upcycling has seen this movement in fashion link unemployed women to the circular economy, fondly making garments in South Africa.
The company’s training programme in its incubation hubs shifts women from being unemployed towards becoming self sufficient. With an unemployment rate of 34.5 % percent and rising, Sari for Change acknowledges its responsibility in empowering women to learn a monetizable skill with the aim of starting their own businesses or becoming the company’s independent makers, creating an inclusive eco-system. Sharing knowledge and skills is important in the company’s process as it is an integral part of achieving the SDG1 and SDG8 UN goals – alleviating poverty and creating decent work whilst participating in the economic growth.
Sari For Change has a no plastic policy. When sorting its saris, the saris containing a high polyester content are kept aside specifically for bags, made at developmental level. The company uses the off cuts from the production floor to create upcyled totes. Its packaging is all recycled and reusable and becomes the first entry point for earning as women in training on the sewing machine are encouraged to produce and perfect as many as they can for immediate payment. The bags are often termed as “the most imperfect bag” as the trainees are practicing to stitch with most of the ladies using a sewing machine for the first time.
The company’s founder Rayana Edwards was a business leader of Partners in Possibility in 2019, Sari for Change thus partnered with Thabang Primary School in Dobsonville, Soweto to provide skills to unemployed moms. Their SGB chairperson Shadi Mogale has taken the project forward to now producing bags for Sari For Change and uniforms for the school. Edwards is also the 2020 recipient of the Global Leaders Women Award awarded by Goldman Sachs and Fortune Magazine for her economic hubs she terms as the sacred economy through Sari for Change.
