July 27,2015, New Delhi: IndianRoots.com, an online marketplace for Indian fashion, becomes the first and the only online partner of Craftroots – an NGO run by Anar Patel who has been championing the cause of Artisans for over two decades. Craftroots’ objective is to strengthen artisans and their crafts tradition by providing them design inputs, fair wages and a marketing platform as well as educating the market about these crafts. IndianRoots with its wide reach among Indian and NRI patrons will act as an enabler to highlight and promote the goods by the forgotten artisans of Gujarat. Earlier this month, IndianRoots launched a tie-up with Banka Silk from Bihar and now this second iconic association of the month reinforces IndianRoots’ diligent work towards elevating the forgotten gems of the Indian heritage and helping these artisans earn fair wages by cutting out middlemen from the supply chain. With a steady flow of traffic from over 150 countries, IndianRoots is a valuedchoice of partner to help Craftroots reach its potential customer base in India and abroad.
Anar Patel, Founder of Craftroots, says, “I started working with the craftsmen of Gujarat, at almost the start of my professional career, around twenty years ago. In my experience from very closely with artisans, there is always a need a market platform to promote, value and acknowledge their talent, thus enabling them to get a steady source of income. We at Craftroots, wanted to take the e-commerce route as one can reach a wider audience with just a click. IndianRoots was the natural choice as they are committed to work towards uplifting and highlighting the artisans of India. With the portal’s wide audience base, the products by artisans of Craftroots will surely gain acceptance and prominence in the market.”
Mr. Rahul Narvekar, CEO, NDTV Ethnic Retail (IndianRoots.com) says, “Consumers are gradually opening up to the idea of using Indian products in their daily lives. But procurement of genuine artisan products and awareness of genuine sources is not easy in India. IndianRoots offers a platform connecting these grassroots level organizations with our customers across India and worldwide. What gives me great pleasure is that through our partnership with Craftroots we will be able to help more than 500 women to become financially secure. In our quest to bridge the gap between Indian products and Indians and NRIs, we will continue to tie up with the artisans and NGOs from various states in the months ahead.”
ShyattoRaha, Executive Director, NDTV Ethnic Retail (IndianRoots.com) says, “The coming together of Craftroots and IndianRoots is ultimately a story of the coming of age of Indian craftsmanship. Driving home the beauty of these art forms and giving them their rightful place in front of global customers is what IndianRoots has been doing for the past 2 years. I welcome Craftroots to the IndianRoots marketplace; this partnership will be a celebration of the Indian heritage, and ‘roots’ that both companies are proud of.”
IndianRoots
An NDTV venture in partnership with India’s best designers and finest craftsmen, IndianRoots delivers heritage and style like never before. The e-commerce portal was launched in July 2013 with an intent to fill the vacuum of high-end ethnic wear demand in India and its people abroad. As the portal is nearing its second anniversary it has made a strategic shift by widening its offerings and including men’s wear, kid’s wear, home décor and furnishing to its existing portfolio; thereby expanding it’s positioning from being an Indian ethnic portal to a marketplace of Indian fashion for the worldwide market. IndianRoots hosts 100 + designers and 700+ brands and aims to bridge the gap between products made in India and the worldwide market of Indian consumers.
An extravagant line up of leading designers such as Rohit Bal, Anita Dongre, AnjuModi, Neeta Lulla, RajdeepRanawat, KarieshmaSarnaa, Manyavar, and many more, and an even longer list of crafts and indigenous fabrics that are actively promoted to revive and uphold India’s strong cultural grounds, IndianRoots promises to serve fashion as a force of unity and amalgamation. As the logo suggests, like the banyan tree, the aim is to spread India’s roots by delivering happiness to every corner of the globe.
The company started with a lean investment of 18 crores cash plus media inventory on NDTV channels outside India and ndtv.com . The initial focus was on international markets such as USA, UK, Canada, Australia etc. In recent times, volume of business in India has grown to the point where over 65% orders emanate from this country. IndianRoots created history in the e-commerce domain by being the only player to record a sale of a single order worth 19 lacs – completely pre-paid for an heirloom shawl by designer PranaviKapur.
IndianRoots is now one and a half years old and is now geared to go omni-channel with offline experience centres all over the world including India. It has raised two rounds of funding and recently closed $5 million in Series B round of funding led by KJS Group.
Craftroots
Craftroots is a unique platform that showcases and brings into spotlight the best of craftsmanship from Gujarat. Craftroots, an initiative of Gramshree, aims to empower artisans by connecting them to resources, tools and network of partner members.
Craftroots was born to revive, preserve and share the craft traditions of Gujarat, India with the world. It aims to bring together people, processes and technology to revive our traditional craft and helps to build an eco-system with partner members to develop a scalable and sustainable model for craft development. Partner members include Artisans, NGO’s, businesses & corporations, prominent designers, architects and educational institutions that specialize in design & development of various craft forms.
Craftroots supports Fair trade and Craft mark certification standards.