‘Make-and-Sew-Kindness’ aka The M.A.S.K project by Global Shapers Bangalore
Many global policymakers, non-profit organisations, and institutes have envisioned, realized and recognized 2020's as the ‘decade of change’. This was made more eminent as the global pandemic brought to us the unprecedented truth of uncertainties that we are often surrounded with. It was never so pressing to understand the importance of speedy response, to adapt, and to urgently act!
As half of the world took to virtual offices, there were still millions who lost jobs, livelihoods, income opportunities, employment prospects, and even lives. India’s vast informal sectors were hit largely, and the textile industry which contributes to 2% of Indian’s GDP, of which more than 90% is unorganised, dealt a heavy blow. What was a difficult year, came also with eye-opening realities and thought-provoking complexities that needed immediate attention.
At Global Shapers Bangalore (or GSB) hub, community shapers huddled virtually to recognize the pandemic as an opportunity — to spread awareness and propagate responsible consumer behaviour; to find a sustainable solution to prevent the spread of the virus, and to support vulnerable communities of the informal section of the textile value chain.
Shaping Fashion, the Bangalore team shaped the M.A.S.K or ‘Make-and-Sew-Kindness’ project to take a two-pronged approach around ‘the commodity’, which has become most readily associated with reducing the spread of the Coronavirus. Yes, M.A.S.K as the project stands for.
The mission of this initiative is to promote the circular economy in the textile industry and create livelihoods in the process. The M.A.S.K project aims to achieve its two primary objectives of:
- Creating awareness around responsible consumerism — as the project works on the principle of circular economy of ‘closing the loop’ by manufacturing high quality, reusable cotton masks from pre-consumer textile waste that would otherwise end up as deadstock.
- Creating dignified income opportunities for vulnerable communities which suffered by losing employment during the lockdown. As 90% of 15 million workers in the informal textile industry are women, the M.A.S.K project focuses to help ‘Master-jini(s)’ or women textile artisans in and around Bangalore, Karnataka, who have not received any orders in about six to eight months.
One of the two prongs of this project directly addresses the alarming statistics around the disposal and waste generation of single-use masks that end up in landfills or water bodies, eventually polluting the environment. The idea of adapting towards a circular economy became the ‘beacon of light’ for the M.A.S.K project to encourage re-purposing pre-consumer textiles waste (that would otherwise end up as deadstock) into sustainable reusable masks.
In order to fight the societal challenges associated with the informal textile industry, the M.A.S.K project team has partnered with The Pink Foundation to work along with women from marginalized communities by conducting skill development sessions such as hand embroidery, personal hygiene during the production of masks, abiding social distancing protocols etc. — thus creating a safe working environment as well as fair and dignified income opportunities in their times of despair.
The M.A.S.K project has been funded by Citrix R&D India Pvt. Ltd, via their CSR vertical, focused on stimulating development/livelihood at the grass-root level, in response to COVID-19.
Through advocacy efforts, the team is carving a humorous, yet practical messaging around spreading awareness — nudging all to make responsible choices as individuals, as a collective society and as global citizens at large. The M.A.S.K project memes do just that and more.
As we recently celebrated International Women’s Day and remembering March as Women’s History Month, we honour each of those women who stand strong against hardships and adversities, as being the ‘force of change’. We are grateful to our group of (women) mask-makers who represent courage, growth, learning, change and beyond. This is a shout-out to all those who support each other towards building a better, more inclusive future, alienated from discrimination of any kind. We commit to extending our helping hands to all those who ever need encouragement and empowerment — today and every day!
Through this initiative, the M.A.S.K project team, truly depicts the old adage ‘change begins within ourselves’. This project has impacted a hundred plus beneficiaries by creating about ten thousand masks which are made with social responsibility, are environmentally safe, and are reusable. During the planning, designing and production phase, the team ensured the ‘Masterjini(s)’ or women mask makers were — complying social distance, working in a healthy and safe atmosphere free from gender-based violence and sexual harassment, paid fairly, and treated with care as well as dignity. Choosing to make layered-reusable cotton masks, was safe, sustainable and economical.
These M.A.S.K’s will be available on our official webpage, starting from April 2021, as we still continue to fight this global pandemic. The M.A.S.K project team encourages you to support the initiative, and feel free to connect with us, links below.
Thank you!
Prerna Pandey,
On behalf of The M.A.S.K project team
The Global Shapers Community is an initiative by the World Economic Forum, for youth to drive dialogue, action and change. Prerna Pandey is a new shaper, passionate about helping the textile industry choose sustainable courses of action. She believes that change begins by taking the first step — it could be slow but is iterative and constant. Prerna works at Textile Exchange, a global non-profit that inspires and equips the textile industry to accelerate the adoption of preferred materials in the textile value chain.
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