All sectors / Fashion & Accessories / Kandygs Handlooms
Maharagama, Western Province, Sri Lanka
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Kandygs Handlooms is a pioneering social enterprise based in Maharagama, Sri Lanka, established in 1971 to preserve and nurture the country's rich traditional handloom industry. The organization offers an extensive range of exquisite handloom textiles, housewares, clothing, accessories, and toys. These products are meticulously handmade by skilled rural artisans using sustainable cotton and bamboo yarns. Operating its own dedicated dyeing, weaving, and sewing units, Kandygs has trained and empowered more than 300 women artisans, providing them the flexibility to work from centralized facilities or their own homes. The enterprise is deeply committed to fair trade principles, ensuring fair wages, safe working conditions, health insurance, and interest-free loans. Furthermore, Kandygs supports its local community by donating to regional projects and providing educational scholarships to local students, seamlessly weaving environmental sustainability and female empowerment into every aspect of their renowned Sri Lankan textile production.
Sita Yahampath
CEO
Operating since 1971
Eco-system
Cities and Towns
Villages
Forests
Sub-sectors
Handicraft & Artisan Products
Social Enterprise
Fair Trade
Ethical Fashion
A pioneering Sri Lankan enterprise empowering women artisans through sustainable, traditional handloom textile production.
Method and Technique of Kandygs Handlooms are:
Traditional Manual Wooden Handloom Weaving: The organization utilizes a zero-electricity production method where skilled women artisans operate traditional wooden handlooms, manually intertwining the warp and weft threads to create durable, high-quality textiles with intricate, culturally significant patterns.
Sustainable Bamboo and Cotton Yarn Sourcing: Kandygs employs a stringent material procurement technique, ensuring that all raw fibers used in their textile production are derived from renewable, biodegradable sources such as bamboo and locally sourced natural cotton.
Internal Eco-Friendly Yarn Dyeing Protocol: They utilize a centralized, controlled dyeing method within their own facility, allowing them to strictly monitor water usage, manage dye effluent safely, and ensure consistent color quality across their entire fabric range.
Decentralized Home-Based Artisan Fabrication: The enterprise employs a highly flexible labor technique, equipping rural women with the necessary looms, raw materials, and training to produce textiles directly from their homes, removing geographical and logistical barriers to female employment.
Vertically Integrated Sewing and Finishing: Kandygs utilizes an end-to-end manufacturing method by operating its own specialized sewing units, where the handwoven fabrics are meticulously transformed into final consumer goods such as clothing, soft toys, and robust housewares under strict quality control.
Supplier Advance Payment and Capacity Building: They employ a financial stabilization technique for their supply chain, proactively providing advance capital and strategic training to local raw material suppliers, ensuring consistent high-quality inputs while protecting vulnerable agricultural workers from economic volatility.
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