Exploring weaves of India

Work pressure and corporate career slowly buried Ipsita's creativity. After working with several Multi National Companies like Caritor and Infosys, she choose to start her own venture named 'Testmind' that prepares engineering graduates for the workforce.

Having a degree in Fine Arts, She has a strong inclination for colors and patterns. She relocated from Bangalore to Noida, and was not physically present for TestMind, and then moved out of it.

Ipsita shares, "The creative person inside me which was lost somewhere due to work pressure and busy schedules, had its calling! I really wanted to infuse my creativity with the beautiful traditional weaves of our country, to offer appealing curated products to my customers. Thus, started 6yardsandmore in 2016, November."

Her sister Vinita is the Co-Founder in our company. She is also an Engineer and artistic. She is located in Middle East and looks into our Global Operations. They source their products from all the corners of India, ranging from Assam, to Tamil Nadu and Lucknow to Rajasthan. The weavers are usually placed in remote villages in various states.

Their collection covers the master weaves from all 4 zones of our country, even those which are unexplored or unknown to many. They also try to share the story behind such treasured weaves with our customers, so that they appreciate these even more. She says, "There was travelling involved in the beginning phase. Once we explored the areas and did the quality check, we finalised the weavers from specific areas who are completely authentic and trustworthy. In present situation, we connect with them online."

Along with sarees, they also have fabrics, dupattas and stoles, ethnic wears, traditional handcrafted jewellery handcrafted all types of bags, which have traditional ikat, kalamkari and block prints fabric. Their sales were earlier done in exhibitions and now through various online platforms. They also have a page for Non Resident Indians, 'Pravasi' by 6yardsandmore, giving women residing outside India, to stay connected with their roots and traditional and authentic weaves.

As a person, Ipsita was always inclined to 'Giving back to Society' and started a Trust called 'Aastha' for children with special needs and old people who were abandoned by family.

In continuation with this, 6yardsandmore also strongly relates to this cause and provides a helping hand to Hunar Foundation by providing them a complete non profitable marketing and selling platform. They also promote their products and get new orders for them, in a pure non-profit sharing basis.

'Pravasi by 6yardsandmore' is an exclusive page for Non-Resident Indians in various parts of the world. It has products specially curated for people staying abroad while keeping their preferences, choices and comfort in mind. They also provide them extra services like fall, pico, blouse stitch which is not easily available in foreign.

"During the initial period of this Pandemic, we faced a few challenging situations. The supply of raw materials was hit which effected the availability of our products. The transportation of products and our courier services were slow and closed in many sectors. There was a major dip in the buying pattern of customers, especially in March to May segment," adds Ipsita.

However, they saw the change in trend for good by end of May. There was a sudden surge in people buying online. They were more relaxed with handling of parcels with basic precautions. Their courier partners were also more regularised in their operation, though with a delay.