Students Help Build Sustainability
Katrina Torres ’21 and Alena Madar CALS ’21 travelled to India last summer to take classes and engage in ILR-focused service projects as part of the ILR Global Service Learning program.
Once there, they collaborated with ILR’s partner the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement, known as SVYM, and local tribal women to sell lightweight, flowing pants that help provide income to indigenous women. For over 30 years, SVYM has served tribal and rural communities in health, education and socio- economic development, in addition to conducting policy research.
Dr. Balu Balasubramanian, a visiting ILR professor, is the founder of SVYM, a non-profit organization that trains local Indian youth and women from the tribal communities to make clothing as a way of creating sustainable income. The organization is ILR’s non-profit partner in India and Cornell students help the organization implement their HR structures, conduct policy research and develop teaching tools.
The idea of making and selling palazzo pants through SVYM was Torres’ suggestion. She believed they would sell well in the U.S. and in international markets, increasing the annual incomes of the indigenous women making them. Women from three indigenous Indian tribes in Heggadadevana kote selected the name “Totally Tribal” to highlight their pride in the merchandise they make.
ILR Associate Director of International Programs Donna Ramil said that the nine-year foundation of ILR-SVYM partnership and trust allowed the students to engage at a deeper level and learn about the realities of job creation in rural communities.
“The idea of the women tailoring palazzo pants came about after Alena and Katrina had lived with the local community for nearly two months. Katrina and Alena are deeply committed and now working with the women to make this project sustainable. Through the leadership of the tribal women, the training by SVYM and the engagement by future ILR students, this project has a good chance of sustainability,” said Ramil, noting that while the pandemic prevented students from travelling to India this summer, the tenth anniversary of the ILR-SVYM partnership, they are engaging virtually with the organization.
Torres and Madar returned to India in January to further develop the project. They focused on building sustainability, strengthening the payment processing pathway, tackling international shipping and standardizing sizes. Madar also developed a production manual, incorporating the brand “Totally Tribal.”
When they returned to Cornell, they coordinated the packaging and marketing of the pants, which sell for $20 a pair. On March 1, their efforts resulted in the first U.S. sale.
“Since our launch, Totally Tribal U.S. sales turned a $1,400 profit, or about 105,000 rupees, with 100% of this money going back to the women who made the palazzos,” Madar said.
Torres and Madar have used social media, including Instagram (@totallytribal.india), to display the pants. Early in the spring semester, they organized Cornell campus pop-up shops and developed a website for online orders.
During the pandemic, sale of the pants has moved mostly online, and production has been briefly halted while the women of Totally Tribal sew masks to give back to their organization and community. But, that hasn’t stopped Torres and Madar from planning for the future.
They are looking into getting Totally Tribal Fair Trade Certified and finding more business through wholesale opportunities.
“Katrina and I are not quite sure what the future of Totally Tribal will look like once we graduate next year,” Madar said. “But, we have plans to institutionalize Totally Tribal by making the U.S. sales hub the responsibility of future Cornell students. We are not sure what this will look like yet, due to the interruption in the planning of it during COVID-19, but there will be more information on the future of Totally Tribal coming once the school year resumes in the fall.”