Friendship Colours: Beauty and skills from the Chars
Friendship Colours of the Chars is a fashion and lifestyle brand of Friendship Enterprise
Exquisite silk, jamdani and cotton sarees in mellow shades of blue, brown, beige, orange, green, red and many other colours are neatly showcased in clear glass cases.
Each of them has different designs and different patterns on them. The buttery soft silk sarees and scarves gleam under a bright white light.
As soon as you enter the Friendship Colours of the Chars outlet in Banani, these beautiful sarees will immediately catch your attention. On the white walls near the counter, jewelleries made from cloth beads, strings and silver are hanging.
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All of the designs are modern, and at the same time, anyone can don them with any outfit.
These sarees and handicrafts are made by skilled women artisans from the remotest chars (riverine islands) in Bangladesh.
Friendship Colours of the Chars is a fashion and lifestyle brand of Friendship Enterprise.
As a social enterprise of the Friendship NGO, it works with the marginalised char women in Gaibandha and Kurigram.
Twenty-year old Mosammat Meghna Khatun has been working as a taat artist since she was a child. She can only sign her name in Bangla.
But Meghna is an expert weaver and one of the best in her team of 25 plus women workers. All of them work for Friendship Enterprise.
"I like my work and I like weaving sarees, scarves and yard fabric. I like working here because the hours are flexible, and I get to finish my household chores before coming here. Most importantly, I like that I am an earning member in my family, I like being financially independent," said Meghna.
Meghna and her colleagues make beautiful natural-dyed sarees, scarves, homeware, yard fabric, handcrafted jewellries, artisan boats, and cloth masks, which are displayed at Colours of the Chars outlets.
The first retail outlet was opened in Banani in September 2019. A retail outlet in Luxembourg was opened in February 2020.
Friendship Colours of the Chars has been regularly exporting products to France, Luxembourg, New Zealand, and the USA, serving clients such as Red Cross, Auchan, and G-star.
Since its inception, a total of 731 people were trained on weaving and 437 on tailoring. These trained weavers were shifted to production and paid monthly wages as per their production output. Meghna was also trained and gradually promoted.
Renowned designers such as Maheen Khan, Chandana Dewan and Kuhu Plamondon are actively working with Friendship Colours of the Chars to bring customers exclusive designs. Chandra Shekhar Shaha is their mentoring guide.
What makes the brand different is how their products are made, particularly when it comes to fabrics.
Only traditional techniques of weaving (handlooms), dyeing, printing and embroidery are used here. All materials used are pure cotton and silk. Most of all, the colours applied are 100 percent natural or Azo-free dyes.
The cotton yarn and silk yarn are ethically sourced from renowned and documented local suppliers.
The artisan boats are perhaps one of the prettiest and unique decoration items in the store. They are made to look exactly like the real lifeboats, with every detail carefully incorporated in their miniature versions.
The masks produced are made from 100 percent pure cotton fabrics, they are dyed using natural or azo-free dyes so that there are no fabric health hazards. They are also washable and perfect for reuse.
The masks are light-weight and easy to put on, making it easier to breathe and move around while they are covering one's face. Customers can choose from a variety of cloth masks in pretty patterns and colours.
During the pandemic, more than 100,000 masks have been distributed amongst the marginalised and those in high-hazard zones. These are also being exported and marketed in the retail stores in Dhaka and Luxembourg. Till August of this year, 150,000 plus masks have been successfully produced.
To know more about Friendship Colours of the Chars, visit their website: www.friendshipenterprise.com.
