Sareetonin

Sareetonin for Daan Utsav 2021

In October of this year, @Shakti.ism had the absolute pleasure of participating in a SAREETONIN campaign led by our friends at the amazing sari brand Six Yards Plus.⁠
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SAREETONIN was a donation drive coordinated by Six Yards Plus, started as part of Daan Utsav 2021. Six Yards Plus graciously called for donations and offered donors generous discounts on their products in exchange for pre-loved sarees.⁠
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The sarees that were generously donated went to either @Goonj for direct donation and further use, or to one of the artisan teams @ Shaktiism for upcycling.⁠
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The campaign was a huge success and we ended up receiving nearly 500 donated sarees for upcycling!! We are so very grateful to everyone who donated, and to our thoughtful friends at Six Yards Plus. THANK YOU!!⁠

#SAREETONIN 2021

WHAT IS SAREETONIN?

SAREETONIN was a saree donation drive coordinated by Six Yards Plus (6YP). It was started as part of Daan Utsav 2021, and is now a regular feature at Six Yards Plus.

The campaign was super simple:

• 6YP asked donors to send in gently used sarees or even damaged sarees, asking donors to please make sure they are clean and neatly folded before you sent in
• 6YP's amazing all-women team checked the sarees for defects and suitability for donation or for upcycling
• For every saree donated, 6YP generously gave donors Rs. 500 as a voucher to redeem on their website. There was no upper limit on this. If someone donated 10 sarees and all of them were approved, the donor received a voucher for Rs. 5000 (!!!)
• Donors were able to redeem their vouchers for up to 30% of the value of your cart, and they were able to redeem them over a period of 3 months from donation
• The sarees donated either went to Goonj for direct donation and further use, or to Shakti.ism for upcycling, providing additional materials for empowering one of the Shakti.ism teams of artisan women

WHY SAREETONIN?

From Six Yards Plus: As an ethical enterprise, we believe in doing everything we do with a conscience and with the underlying theme of sustainability. SAREETONIN brings both these ideas together in the best way possible.

Sarees which are gently used, and will not find any more wear with you can be donated to those in need. This will extend the life of the saree itself, keeping it from going into waste heaps and landfills, and simultaneously, it will help those that drape the sarees for their own work wear or occasion wear.

• The earth smiles, because you are reducing the burden on it
• Those draping your sarees smile because they have received something in kindness from you
• YOU smile because when you do good, there is a rush of happy hormones called Seratonin. The SAREETONIN shots help too, we hope!

What’s that they say about Kindness being the new Cool?

ABOUT SIX YARDS PLUS

From Six Yards Plus: We are disrupting the way women perceive, consume and experience sarees. We believe that sarees are powerful, and are in keeping with what women of today want. They are:

• connected to Indian culture- the motifs, the various styles of weaving and draping, all bring together tangible and intangible culture in a way that few other garments do
• sustainable- they can be used for years together and across generations
• versatile- are suited to any occasion - formal, informal and anything in between 
• body positive- a saree doesn't judge you on size

As garments based in craft, they are also a large source of livelihoods and employment- second only to agriculture in India.

IMPACT

We operate at the cusp of culture, loom craft and livelihoods, working with over 300 artisans across 10 states of India.

• 65% of the artisans we work with are women
• 80% of them reside in rural areas and
• 80% have an income of less than Rs. 20,000 a month.

Since we started in 2017, we have been able to increase the value of our orders to the extent of 25X in some weaving clusters, providing 200,000 hours of work and working with over 25 GI tagged/revival weaves.

We are women centric and are a 100% women owned and women run and incorporate sustainability in every aspect of the work we do.

Be sure to check out the incredible jaw-dropping sarees handcrafted by artisans all across India at Six Yards Plus.

HAVE SARIS TO DONATE?

If you or anyone you know has saris to donate, please get in touch at hello@shaktiism.com. We aren't running the sareetonin campaign anymore, but we do rely heavily on donations to create more work for women, so any donations are always greatly appreciated. Thank you :-)

*sari/saree have been used interchangeably in this post, as they often are :-)