UP ropes in fashion designers to promote traditional crafts and industries

Fashion aces Ritu Beri, J J Valaya to promote textiles, home decor etc

The Uttar Pradesh government has roped in A-list fashion designers including Ritu Beri and J J Valaya to promote the state’s indigenous handicrafts and industries.

The traditional industries and crafts of UP lined up for promotion in the first phase include ethnic fabrics and textiles such as Chikan and Khadi, home décor, perfumes, carpets, leather products, handicrafts etc.

Apart from Beri and Valaya, two other top fashion designers Rina Dhaka and Manish Malhotra have also been on-boarded to help the state revive handicrafts, which are in the dire need of technological interventions and contemporary positioning to appeal to the masses, especially youth.

“Each of the fashion designers would be allocated different regions associated with distinct handicraft or industry to chalk out the strategy to revive and promote them,” UP additional chief secretary, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and export promotion, Navneet Sehgal told Business Standard.

The fashion industry aces would coordinate with the local artisans and entrepreneurs for their capacity building in the areas of contemporary designs, packaging, branding, marketing and quality control through hand-holding and training exercises.

UP MSME and export promotion minister Sidharth Nath Singh held a virtual conference with these internationally acclaimed Indian fashion designers last evening. He said the tie-up with the fashion designers would not only fortify the ‘backward linkage’ with the traditional industries, but strengthen the ‘forward linkage’ value chain as well going forward.

To promote the indigenous industries and crafts under the flagship one district one product (ODOP) scheme, the Yogi Adityanath government has been actively firming up alliances with external organisations and companies, including ecommerce giants such as Amazon and Ebay to provide a global marketing platform to such products.

“We will extend full support to our partner fashion designers in taking forward the agenda of promoting our handicrafts. This will not only augment the income of artisans under the ODOP scheme, but also improve their socioeconomic and living standards,” Sehgal noted.

The ODOP scheme was launched by the Adityanath government in 2018 to promote the traditional and indigenous handicrafts through state support in terms of setting up of new enterprises, bank credit and marketing.

In fact, the state is bringing a new export promotion policy to increase shipments even as the government is targetting to double annual exports to Rs 2.4 trillion in the next three years.

The state is also looking to tap the lucrative global textile supply chain by providing a competitive avenue to international buyers, who are currently procuring textile and fabrics from China. The government is holding discussions with industry with regards to the preparation of the new policy to make it more competitive.

To overcome the covid-19 headwinds, the Adityanath government has also decided to host virtual ODOP exhibitions (e-exhibition) during the current fiscal year 2020-21.