Inside the Kandhla loom belt

Kandhla sits in Shamli district, in the Doab between the Yamuna and the Ganga. Textiles have been made here for generations, and the work is still organised in houses rather than halls.

Our network is around four hundred households across five towns: yarn winding in Jhinjhana, weaving in Kandhla, dyeing and quality control at our facility in Shamli, and stitching in Kairana and Thana Bhawan.

Skill here is inherited. A weaver who has thrown a shuttle since childhood produces a more even cloth, and because we pay per piece at rates agreed in advance, a good weaver earns more — which is how quality holds.

The constraint is daylight. Handloom work slows in the monsoon and in December, and we plan production around it rather than pretending otherwise.