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Leh (Ladakh): Dr. Hema Yadav, Director, VAMNICOM shared the success story of Looms of Ladakh, Women cooperative during a One Day webinar on “Computerization of PACS and PACS as a Common Service Centre” for DRCS Leh – Ladakh Region.

Chief Strategist and Founder Director of Looms of Ladakh Abhilasha Bahuguna (extreme right) with Members of Looms of Ladakh

Looms of Ladakh is an ethical, herder-artisan-led luxury brand that brings the cutting edge of design to heritage crafts – upskilling traditional artisans and providing sustainable solutions to preserve cultural legacies while creating exquisite collectibles that will appeal to global audiences. Looms of Ladakh is a farm−to−fashion sustainable, luxury, herder-artisan-owned brand, at the intersection of design and heritage that aims to provide a blueprint for the ecological and ethical challenges faced by the global fashion industry.

The story of Looms of Ladakh has its beginning in 2013, when Abhilasha Bahuguna became aware of the prevailing state of affairs of the Pashmina artisans despite Pashmina being the forebearer of a highly profitable global “Cashmere” industry. The over-riding desire and commitment to help the people, rearing and weavingn Pashmina wool into timeless attires of luxury, earn a fairer price in the global marketplace for their craftsmanship became a driving force for her work. Given the vulnerability of the community and their art, she felt the only way they could do that was if they banded together and had greater ownership in the industry, as active participants in the craft as well as its business, rather than being valued only for their labour. Taking forward the vision to create a sustainable, democratic institution within the nascent handloom and handicraft industry of Leh-Ladakh region, Looms of Ladakh was founded in 2017 as a women’s Cooperative.

The webinar, on existing cooperative scenario in Leh-Ladakh region, was organised earlier this month by Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management (VAMNICOM), Pune.

This webinar, was part of a series being organized to know the different schemes initiated by the Ministry of Cooperation to make the cooperatives more resilient and viable. In total 55 PACS officials, faculties, dignitaries, and cooperative ecosystem stakeholders were present in the Webinar.

Those present in the webinar included Dr. Hema Yadav, Director, Moses Kunzang, Additional Registrar Cooperatives, UT, Ladakh, Dr. Mohd Abass, Deputy Registrar Cooperatives, Leh and Shahnawaz Rashid, Vice President, CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, among others.