Can you tell us about your decision to sell face masks?

Certainly. Back in March, the pandemic was hitting both the United States and India very hard. A lot of companies

were canceling orders, and many people were losing their jobs. In India, people were starving and losing their homes—the fear of starving was becoming a bigger fear than the virus itself. In the United States, the virus was spreading exponentially, and many were dying, while the scarcity of face masks did not help the issue. It broke my heart to see both the place I live and the place I grew up hit so hard, and I knew I had to do something to help.

I did not have a lot of money and was left with a dilemma: Do I put the money back into my business to advertise and hopefully grow in the long run or give the money back to the artisans to help them in the present? I decided to give the money to the artisans, helping them afford their homes and put food onto the table. While they were able to sustain themselves for a short time, I had to come up with a way to get them back to work so we could continue to support them. We had a large collection of archival prints and hand-embroidered fabrics that we had not used, so I reworked them into face masks.

With no money to traditionally advertise them, I had to take a different approach. I posted the designs onto my social media platforms while also reaching out to publications and retailers. Luckily, we were shared by Vogue in their “Cloth Masks to Shop Now” article, which became vital in bringing our products and ethos in front of as many as possible. Anthropologie also played a vital role, as minutes after I reached out, they responded saying they loved the masks and put in an order for 28,000 from our lower-priced line, which was still sustainable. I was ecstatic. I was finally able to get these digital printers, cotton mills, and artisans crafters back to work and provide a means in which they could start to support themselves and their families again. We donated thousands of masks in India and the U.S. to ensure the safety of our artisans and help stop the spread the best way we could.