Commissioned by AIACA, this research examines sustainability practices across India's textile and handicrafts industry — mapping certification frameworks, surfacing success stories, and identifying the systemic barriers holding the sector back.
Sustainability in India's Handicrafts Sector: What Works, What Doesn't, and What's Next
India’s handicrafts sector sits at the intersection of deep cultural heritage and serious sustainability pressures — resource depletion, environmental impact, and the challenge of bringing millions of informal artisans in line with evolving global standards.
Commissioned by the All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association (AIACA), this white paper employs a mixed-methods approach — combining historical case analysis with cross-sectional quantitative data — to map what sustainable practice actually looks like across India’s textile and handicrafts industry, drawing on both success stories and instructive failures.
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The paper’s core contribution is a practical framework for artisans and stakeholders navigating the sustainability transition.
It provides a comparative analysis of international certifications such as Fair Trade and GOTS, and evaluates ecolabels including OEKO-TEX and the India Handloom Brand against the realities of the Indian artisan context — assessing applicability, market value, and environmental credibility.
The central finding is that aligning traditional craftsmanship with certified sustainable practices is not only viable but strategically valuable: access to international markets increasingly depends on it, and the infrastructure to support that transition is within reach if stakeholders learn from documented precedent.