I wanted to share our thoughts on having a sale as there are many different approaches in especially the craft / mindful fashion / hand-made field. Now we are here in 2021 and we can clearly say that 2020 has been a tough year for us, as I am sure it has been for many of you as well. Nevertheless, all throughout the year we continued our production as usual, always keeping our team busy in order to avoid any shortage of income for them. This has worked really well. Nevertheless, on the distribution end we had losses, also due to the missing events of 2020 which are always great channels for us. Our stock levels increased whereas sales have...
As we are about to launch a wide selection of new yarns I thought it would be interesting for you to see a few projects which have been knitted with our yarn. In our collection we have two different type of yarns, one is Nomadic Fibers and the other is Journey. Let me first introduce you these two very different yarns. 1. Nomadic Fibers Our yarn Nomadic Fibers is a one ply handspun sheep wool yarn. It is spun on "phang" spindles by our Ladakhi team and has a lovely, rustic feel. The wool comes from the sheep of the Kharnak nomads which are shorn once in a year in the summer month July. We have now 5 undyed shades of this...
For all of us, life has changed drastically in the last few weeks. We are thinking of you all and hope you and your dear ones are well despite these extraordinary times.Since March 25 India is under a 3 week lockdown with all non-essential businesses closed completely, public transport suspended and strong limitations in movement. Luckily, we are all working from home and are not too affected. There are only a handful of cases in the three states we work – Assam, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh. Everyone is very careful and we have enough work for the next few weeks. We are committed to continue the making of our textiles in order to keep up a routine that assures everyone the usual income. An Update from Assam: Unfortunately, our production for summer is currently on...
Today I’d like to tell you more about the carpets from the region of Changthang. Since last year we are working on these carpets and are including them in our home textiles. In the local language they are called “Tsug Den”. Its name is made of the words Tsug (from tsug-ches: putting something on the ground) and den (mattress). A Tsug Den on the ground in the tent of nomad of Kharnak. At the back, hanging down is a Tsug Dul, a blanket. The classic size is 90cm x 175cm, however this can vary and one can find Tsug Dens in many sizes depending on the use. The remarkable thing about these carpets is that they consist of panels which...
What does a working experience at We Are KAL look like? We would like to introduce our intern Jimmy to you, the first one who accompanied us during our wool harvest and processing. He was a great part of our team and we are very, very grateful for his commitment. In this post Jimmy will share his background, the experience with the KAL team in Ladakh in July and August 2018 and his ideas for the future. Enjoy! Jimmy and Angtak collecting the sheep wool in Kharnak. "But who am I? I am from the French countryside, not far from Lyon. I grew up surrounded by fields and since a very young age nature attracts me. I first studied anthropology...
